


Light and Shadow

by Shadow of an Echo (AyotliKestrel)



Category: Kuroko no Basuke | Kuroko's Basketball
Genre: M/M, Multi, NOT JUST SMUT, friendship is important too, there IS a plot
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-05-11
Updated: 2016-07-29
Packaged: 2018-03-30 01:21:32
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 18
Words: 91,620
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3917932
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AyotliKestrel/pseuds/Shadow%20of%20an%20Echo
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It all started with a message from Akashi, telling the Generation of Miracles to join him for a meeting, and bring a member of their new team with them. The agreement struck up between them will let Kuroko learn what happens when a shadow is bathed in light. Only, how do you choose between the Sun, Moon, and Stars? It's the side kicks that force the Miracles to realize the truth.</p><p>I am the same author from fanfiction dot net, this is a new backup account.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Second Go

**Author's Note:**

> Warnings: Harem style yaoi relationships, alcohol use, and bad language; ALSO I began writing this story in the middle of season two so some information is based on my THEORIES and not the reality of the storyline. I did adjust some things as new information was presented in the show, so as it stands this story is cannon with a few twists rather than a complete au. 
> 
> Setting: After the WinterCup but before the next InterHigh, so basically downtime in the basketball season. 
> 
> Disclaimer: I do not own Kuroko no Basuke, and I am making no money off this fic as it was written purely for entertainment.
> 
> Pairings will be fairly relaxed for the most part, beginning with KagaKuro and evolving from there. 
> 
> A/N Just a general fyi before you get started. I write polyamorous pairings, especially if there is enough canon material to at least suggest it, but that does not mean my stories are wall to wall smut. I focus on emotion leaving the physical side only one relatively small aspect.
> 
> Oh and one more thing, this is the first time I am attempting to use honorifics, I'm doing this because the choice in suffix is a very integral part of their personalities. I hope I get them right.

Chapter One

Second Go

Hyuuga knew something was changing with their ace and shadow. He could feel it just as surely as he could tell Kiyoshi's knees were hurting him again as they practiced. Kuroko and Kagami were just that much more in sync, the trust in each other unshakable, their clowning around during down time was a bit more affectionate; touches were lingering longer than they had before.

If the cause was what Hyuuga suspected he could honestly say he wasn't exactly shocked. They had the kind of instant connection and intense chemistry that most others only dreamed of. It didn't hurt that the duo was probably the deadliest combination as athletes outside of the Generation of Miracles; not that he doubted Kuroko's inclusion in the famous group, only that Kagami was not part of it, and the other prodigies barely noticed their new teams let alone forged connections deep enough to pull off what Kuroko and Kagami were capable of.

No he bet the only thing that might trump their power now was if the Generation of Miracles reformed the bonds they had at Teiko.

…But that would never happen.

He didn't have further time to ponder on the issue, Riko's voice put an end to that. "All right guys, we're done for the day. Go home and rest up for tomorrow, remember we will be having a late practice to work on stamina." She dismissed, but quickly added on, "Oh and Kiyoshi you'd better be prepared to sit out some of tomorrow's practice, don't think I didn't see you struggling today."

The other members of the teams slid out of sight and into the locker room as the stubborn center argued with their coach. They all knew what would happen anyway; there would be tears and a few cutting remarks, but in the end Kiyoshi would yield to Riko like always. The Seirin coach did know how to take care of her boys, and they all acknowledged that even if there were times her advice was a very bitter pill to swallow.

Didn't stop the others from breathing a sigh of relief when they reached the locker room, the outcome might be predictable, but the argument leading up to it was up in the air.

Kuroko was distracted as he grabbed his fresh clothes by his cellphone clattering to the ground, when he picked it up to check if it was okay he noticed the flashing light indicating he had a message. Hitting the button to play it back a momentary flash of shock crossed his face, before he replaced it with his normal unreadable expression. The only indication he was bracing himself to deal with the information was the tightening of his jaw as he clenched his teeth.

Even that small reaction had Kagami noticing his shadow. "You alright Kuroko?" He attempted to cover his concern with offhanded nonchalance, something Kuroko had long ago learned to recognize.

Instead of answering, Kuroko responded with another question. "Kagami-kun, you're free tonight right?"

"Yeah, but what's going on?" Now Kagami was on high alert, things were taking a turn for the weird.

Kuroko lifted his head to look at Kagami from where he had been staring at his phone like it might bite him, "Akashi-kun wants to see us."

The power forward blinked rapidly at that, but wait he couldn't possibly have heard that right. "What do you mean us? If Akashi wanted to see you I'd understand, but why both of us?"

"I don't know," Kuroko admitted. "All he told me is where and when to meet, with the order to bring a member of Seirin with me. You can be sure he knows I will bring you unless it is completely impossible. Makes me wonder if he might be giving similar orders to the others." He pondered, resuming his interrupted activity by stripping off his jersey and grabbing the fresh shirt he had been laying out when he discovered Akashi's message.

"Others? You mean the rest of the Generation of Miracles?" Not a hard guess, he doubted there was anyone else Kuroko would refer to, especially when Akashi was involved.

"He wouldn't pick a neutral place to meet if it wasn't intended for all of us." Kuroko explained his ex-captain's idiosyncrasies. "If there was ever something that required only one of us he would use a place firmly in his territory. He thrives on intimidation."

Kagami pushed the locker closed, finished changing, "So where does he want to meet?"

"There is a convenience store we all used to go to after practice, it has a park about a block away from it that Akashi-kun wants us to meet in." The shadow informed, zipping up his bag; ready to leave.

Kagami slung his bag over a shoulder, "Might as well go see what he wants."

Kuroko only nodded and followed him out of the locker room, just in time for Kiyoshi to see them leave as he entered finally finished arguing with Riko.

"Where are they off to?" He asked incredulously, those two were usually among the last to leave.

"Akashi wants to talk to them," Hyuuga answered, "Both of them. Even Kuroko didn't know why, though he suspects the other Miracles will be there."

"Now that is odd," Kiyoshi noted, coming to sit on the bench to give his sore knees a chance to rest. "At least they are together. I don't like the thought of Kuroko going alone; we have no idea how volatile Akashi could be after the winter cup."

"Kuroko was really tense when he listened to that message, if he is worried, we should be too." Izuki informed. He had noticed Kuroko's reaction almost as quickly as Kagami.

Kiyoshi glanced at Hyuuga, "Do we follow them?"

The Seirin captain deliberated for a moment, "No, we shouldn't. I want to but I doubt Kuroko would like it if we tried to interfere with anything involving Akashi. If he wanted some of us there to back them up, he would have asked." He decided.

Kiyoshi sighed, "Would he? How many times can you honestly remember Kuroko asking for help?"

Hyuuga ran a hand through his hair in irritation, "We are just going to have to trust them. Kuroko has a level head, even if he was in danger he wouldn't risk Kagami too. He has to have some clue what he is doing walking into that mess."

Izuki interjected there, "I agree with Hyuuga. It wouldn't hurt to check on them in a few hours, but it won't go over well if we are caught spying on them."

"Okay, then we wait." Kiyoshi stated his verdict. Those two first years certainly gave them all heart failures on occasions, but so far nothing had put a stop to them. There were stumbles along the way, but every trip and fall brought them back to their feet better than ever.

XxxxxX

It took Kuroko and Kagami nearly an hour to reach the park in question. Arriving in time to see Kuroko's guess that all the Generation of Miracles had been told the same thing turned out to be true. Kise was there, a cranky looking Kasamatsu beside him, the point guard and Captain of Kaijo must be at the end of his rope dealing with Kise's energetic personality after the journey together.

"Kurokocchi!" Kise exclaimed happily, launching himself at the shadow as soon as the Seirin duo was spotted. He glomped Kuroko, hanging onto his shoulders his long and lanky frame helping to hold Kuroko in place.

Kuroko's disgruntled protest didn't budge him, but Kasamatsu kicking him sharply, and Kagami pulling Kuroko away from him did the trick. "Awww, I was just excited to see Kurokocchi!" Kise protested, a waterfall of overdramatic tears pouring down his cheeks.

"Can't you greet him without man-handling him?" Kasamatsu scolded, landing another kick on his lower back for good measure.

"Wahhh! That hurt Senpai!" More crocodile tears flowed, causing the three people near him to abruptly turn and start walking away, leaving him behind.

That didn't last long, though this time when he pounced he grabbed Kagami instead nearly knocking the formidable red-head to the ground with the unexpected leap. As Kagami struggled to shake him off, he hollered at Kasamatsu, "How in the Hell do you put up with this guy?" He eventually managed to send Kise onto the ground a moment or two after yelling.

"I don't," Kasamatsu disagreed. "Or did you not see me kick him? Plus he only acts like this off court or during lulls. He does get serious, it's just very, very, rare."

With the compliment Kasamatsu found himself on the receiving end of Kise's exuberance. Kise tackling him from behind. He kicked backwards, throwing in an elbow to the gut for good measure, Kise reluctantly letting go at the violence.

"Tch, Kise you still make a fool out of yourself as much as always." The sardonic comment took everyone by surprise, considering it was said by Aomine who they hadn't noticed arriving. Well everyone but Kuroko, he had a knack for spotting his Lights, even if they were former ones.

"So mean Aominecchi!" Kise objected, but reserved the fake tears, he knew it would only spur Aomine on, and the power forward certainly didn't need any more ammo when it came to Kise.

Aomine ignored him, but turned to Kasamatsu; "You've learned to deal with him. Not bad."

"Practice." Kasamatsu responded drily.

"That's how it works with him," Aomine observed with a shrug, the controlling grasp he had on Sakurai accenting the movement. Looked like even Aomine had found a teammate to bring, though judging by the tremors running through the nervous boy he hadn't been given much choice in the matter.

"Oi, Aomine, what did you have to threaten to get him to come with you!" Kagami shot over to his rival.

Aomine's reply covered the frantic sorrys the shooting guard was chanting. "I didn't threaten anything. Just told him to come and he did. You though, whatcha do to Tetsu that made him bring you?"

"He asked me! No one had to order anyone." Kagami responded dismissively.

Another voice cut into the argument, "Your friends are very noisy Shin-chan."

"They're not my friends," Midorima instantly corrected, "But yes they are very noisy that is never going to change."

"That's mean Midorimacchi!" Kise protested, "Of course we're friends!"

"Maybe on your side," Midorima muttered.

"Oh Shin-chan, you're still nothing but a big Tsundere." Takao teased, Kise shooting the point guard a grin.

"Am not." Midorima refuted, managing to keep his voice steady, probably from all the practice he had.

"Yes you are!" Every single person in attendance responded at once, even the non Generation of Miracles players. It made Midorima look away and adjust his glasses.

"Is there a problem Shintaro?" This next voice made the Generation of Miracles freeze, the people with them reading the action correctly, making them realize Akashi had arrived. He was the only one so far that had not brought an extra person.

Midorima ducked down, not willing to meet the heterochromatic eyes. "There isn't a problem Akashi, just some teasing."

"Mido-chan is blushing," Murasakibara observed absently, he must have come with Akashi, and Himuro was standing placidly next to him.

"He's right, you are blushing Shin-chan!" Takao agreed excitedly, glomping his teammate.

"Takao get off me," Midorima quickly shook him off, but Takao landed on his feet still laughing.

It was Kuroko that addressed Akashi, ignoring the roughhousing around them, "Why did you call us here Akashi-kun?" The question immediately halted all noise.

"I have a proposition for you." Akashi explained. "For those of you here as guests, let me enlighten you about an important agreement that passed between my players and myself." Another group tensing ensued increasing the curiosity of their companions. "You see upon leaving Teiko, unlike what the press speculated, we all made an oath to go to different high schools. We did this in order to test our skills against each other. The only one not involved in the original pact was Tetsuya. I had faith he would join in though, despite it being for different reasons. This splitting up worked better than I had hoped, I gave all of them free reign as to what teams they joined, and I doubt they could have found better match-ups to their skill."

"Where are you going with this Akashi?" Midorima prompted when it looked like his ex-captain was finished explaining the past.

"The need to keep us separated has ended, we have all come against each other, and it was Tetsuya who triumphed." He saw the concerned looks shot his way from their new teammates, making him do something out of character for the Akashi they has heard of; he reassured them. "I am not pulling them out of their current teams, I meant what I said, they are likely in the best places for them. What I am going to ask of you is much simpler. My father has started up a charity to give young players scholarships to universities if they show more than average promise."

Akashi waited for the information to process in their surprised minds before continuing, "He wants us to perform games in a showcase of our skills. We will sell tickets to the games, plus possible merchandise if the idea is popular, and put all profits towards our new charity. We need at least ten players to accurately perform in these games, that would be a reason I asked you to bring one player from each of your teams, preferably the one you thought had the most potential; we need them to play with us."

His plan was met with silence from all in attendance, they needed to think on this.

The first one to break the quiet atmosphere was the other captain in the group, "If we agree to this, where would we play? The majority of us live in Tokyo but you and Murasakibara live pretty far away." Kasamatsu wanted to know the logistics behind the plan before he agreed to anything.

"Good question, as expected from a captain able to harness Ryouta's skill." Akashi approved. "If this plan works, we would rotate the games between each of our respective schools. If we spread out the locations we increase our audience and that means more money for the charity. Oh and if you agreed to join this plan, my father has decided to give each of you a scholarship as well, drawn from our personal funds so that it really will be all profits going to charity."

"Wait, what?" Kagami interrupted, "You can really do that for eleven people?" He was including Akashi in the question, he would be going to school to he suspected.

"Twelve actually." Akashi corrected blandly, eyeing Kuroko's teammate. "There is one more stipulation to the idea. As I am sure you noticed there is an uneven number of people here. This is because we will need to have a backup encase any of us need to sub out. However Tetsuya is at a disadvantage, he already knows he will need to be exchanged during the game; thus I am giving him the right to choose the player he will substitute himself with from his new team."

"Thank you Akashi-kun," Kuroko responded knowing it was expected. "Is there a restriction on who I can pick?"

"The only player you may not bring is the Uncrowned King. The extra you already have is on our level, it will be too much to allow another so close to us." Akashi laid out his rule. "Also when we split off into teams, you may not match up with either Taiga or Daiki from the beginning. You must choose a new Light for your shadow, you may only play with your previous ones during the last five minutes of a game. This is another rule in place to limit the power of Taiga who matches us and throws off the balance."

"If you are attempting to handicap him so much, why allow him to play at all?" If it had been a Generation of Miracles to say that they would be on the receiving end of a death glare and threats, instead it was Himuro.

"Because he is too good not to, and you will have a few restrictions as well." Akashi warned, "I am fully aware of your skill. For you I am going to ask you not to play on the same side as Taiga, or Atsushi. We will spread out the skills of the prodigies evenly between teams."

"I like that plan," Kasamatsu agreed, "But there might be a problem, how do you spread the talent evenly when there are three point guards and only one center in the mix?"

"Simple, we allow two point guards on one side, and balance the other with Tetsuya. His skill will be more than enough to compensate for the imbalance. Also there is only one dedicated center, but five of the Teiko players including myself can play any position if they have to. Some are better than others at them."

"I can too," Kagami admitted. "I don't like it as much, but I can."

"So can I," Himuro added, glancing at his brother.

"You learned with street ball, multitasking is part of that," Shockingly that was Aomine. Though it wasn't really a compliment more an explanation so the others let it slide without comment, just a few speculative looks.

"Um sorry, but I can play center," Sakurai spoke up quietly. "Sorry for interrupting."

Aomine cuffed him on the back of the head, "I warned you about that, quit with the apologizing crap. I picked you didn't I? Did you even bother to listen to Akashi when he said he told us to bring the one we thought had the most potential?"

"Sorry," He ducked with the threatening look Aomine gave him at that, "I just thought I was the only one you could drag along."

"Nope, I went to you first." Aomine revealed.

"Daiki are you done?" Just the barest hint of impatience in Akashi's voice was enough to cow Aomine and he nodded sharply going quiet, "Anyway, what I was trying to say is both sides will get a center as long as certain egos don't get in the way." He gave sharp looks to the power and small forward of Teiko.

"Like you're one to talk," Kagami had to cover his mumbled statement with a cough.

Akashi turned his dual colored stare on Kagami, "What was that Taiga?"

"Nothing," Kagami submitted, not bothering to battle him with using his given name, he wouldn't win.

"That's what I thought." Akashi stated. "So, can I count on you to join in the plan?" He addressed all the gathered players, getting agreements from everyone. "Good, now you will have a little time between now and when Father and I can get the first game scheduled. I recommend using that time to practice with each other. I will join in the sessions when I can." Akashi advised.

Taking that for the dismissal it was, they began to gather themselves up to head home. IT was Kise who suggested otherwise, "Want to go get popsicles for old times' sake?"

As the others began to protest and Kise pouted, Kuroko spoke up, "I like the idea."

If there was ever any doubt who had control over the Generation of Miracles, it was gone now, as they fell silent and followed Kuroko like a line of very tall ducks. A quiet smattering of chuckles came from the teammates they brought. It was incredibly amusing to see all the people possessing such gigantic egos yielding to the small form of Kuroko.

"Do they even realize they are doing that?" Kasamatsu asked quietly.

"Probably not," Takao agreed, "Besides even if Shin-chan noticed he wouldn't admit it."

Kagami grunted, "I'm not sure I like it. They really hurt Kuroko, and now they are acting all buddy, buddy."

"But didn't he do it for them? To bring them back?" When they all turned to Sakurai he drew in on himself, "Sorry!"

"Geez, Aomine was right. Stop that, we aren't going to get mad just because you said something." Kagami attempted to get through to him, but didn't hold out much hope.

"Plus you do have a point," Takao assured. "Kuroko wouldn't have worked so hard to wake them up if he didn't want to get close to them again."

"Still don't like it," Kagami responded stubbornly.

Takao's gaze was suddenly predatory, "Oh, wow, is someone jealous?" He asked slyly.

"Jealous of what?" Kagami demanded.

The look changed to amusement, "The amount of attention Kuroko pays to his old team."

"Oh shut up, like you're one to tease, aren't you always following Midorima around like a puppy?" Kagami got his own dig in.

"So what? I don't deny it, someone has to keep an eye on him. At least I'm honest about it." Takao brushed off.

"He's got a point Taiga," Himuro added, not able to resist teasing his brother. "You do seem awfully defensive about this."

"Not you too Tatsuya!" Kagami protested in English, unconsciously switching when confronting Himuro.

"You're being impolite Taiga, there are others around us." Himuro pointed out calmly, enjoying this immensely.

"I can speak English." Kasamatsu informed, surprising both of them. He was pretty good for a non-native speaker.

Sakurai was next, "I am not very good." His accent was a lot thicker than Kasamatsu's but altogether not too horrible. They could understand him anyway.

"I can understand, but I'm horrible at pronouncing English, I'm better at writing it." Takao admitted, not bothering to try saying anything in English.

"Hey guys, we're here." Kagami noticed as the convenience store came into view, the others standing around it minus Kise and Murasakibara.

"What kept you?" Aomine questioned suspiciously.

"Nothing, we were just talking." Takao brushed off, "So tell us, what was it like coming here when you guys were in Teiko?"

Kuroko answered him, "It was a lot like this. We would come here after practice to calm ourselves down before going home." If he was going to say anything further he was interrupted by Aomine slinging an arm around his shoulders.

"Just like back then." He stated grandly, a challenging look passing between him and Kagami like an electric charge. Himuro needed to cover up his laugh at that. No doubt about it Kagami was jealous of the Generation's closeness with Kuroko. Though it also looked like the opposite was true.

"Stop that!" Kagami protested. "Get off him!"

"Oh, why don't you come over here and make me!" Aomine rose to the challenge, ready to face off against Kuroko's new light.

"Do you two always have to fight?" Kuroko asked mildly, pulling out from under Aomine's arm as Kise and Murasakibara exited the store with treats for everyone. "If you are that willing to go for each other's throats don't involve me."

"Ah Kurokocchi," Kise started carefully controlling his hyperness, "I think they fight because you are involved."

Kuroko sighed, glancing at Kise, "I know." He stated simply, bringing the two sizing up males out of their grudge match.

"What are you talking about Kuroko," Kagami protested first, "It's not like that!"

"Damn it Tetsu, that isn't right." Aomine was quick to join in their defense.

"Kuro-chin they are doing it again." Murasakibara noted. "Too much alike." He was munching his way through a plastic bag of snacks he had bought inside the store.

"Whatcha say Shin-chan, lock them in a closet together?" Takao proposed.

Midorima adjusted his glasses, "If only that would work."

"I can think of worse," Himuro assured, "Put them on the same team when we face off. After all Akashi already restricted the amount of time they could play with Kuroko anyway. Why don't we make it a little easier on them and remove the temptation?"

Kagami's jaw dropped and Aomine's eyes widened in horror as the others started laughing at the suggestion. "You know that might not be such a bad idea," Kise mused, popsicle in his hand after handing out the rest to the others.

"I agreed, but any ideas on how the rest of the teams should be broken down?" Kasamatsu was actually enjoying the teasing, even if he was quiet about it, but he still wanted to get the serious business out of the way.

"Akashi already said I am not permitted to play with either Atsushi or Taiga, I guess that means they need to be on the same side and me on the opposite," Himuro decided.

"If we really are going to put Aomine and Kagami on the same side, we should put Akashi, Kuroko, and probably Kise on the other side. You two have too much firepower." Midorima analyzed, proving why he had been Akashi's second in command at Teiko.

"Alright, so if we have one team with Himuro, Akashi, Kise, and Kuroko; who is their fifth?" Takao asked.

Kuroko was the one to answer, "We need someone who is not part of the Generation of Miracles. I'd like to work with Sakurai-kun. Takao-kun, and Kasamatsu-san, I apologize but Akashi is a point guard, he won't like giving up the spot."

"Not bad," Kasamatsu agreed, understanding Kuroko's point about not challenging Akashi for his position. "But who are you going to bring as your substitute?"

"Izuki-sempai." Kuroko revealed. "While a point guard can't take the place of Akashi-kun, if I am out of the game he would be the best fit to coordinate with everyone else in a similar way as I do."

"Sounds good," Kagami had gotten over his distress at getting placed with Aomine, as he could tell it wasn't something either of them wanted. "That means the other team will be me, Aomine, Midorima, Murasakibara, Takao and Kasamatsu."

"One of us will have to be a substitute," Midorima reminded.

Takao spoke first, "Let Kasamatsu play, I'll be the sub. You'll need me if you're facing off against Izuki's eagle eye and Akashi's emperor eye; other than that he is better than me." His hawk eye was a useful skill, but Kuroko knew how to counter it now. Better to let the more experienced point guard tackle the first line up. He could be put to better use when Kuroko was subbed out.

"Are you sure?" The Kaijo player asked seriously.

Shutoku's point guard responded in kind, "Absolutely. I'm a specialist, you are not. Kuroko can negate what makes me good. It makes sense to put you in first while playing him, as you are a more experienced match for everyone else on the team."

"He's right." Again Aomine shocked everyone. "I've played you, and it took guts to face me down like you did. If you can keep that up, I'm willing to have you on our side. Even if we are going against Akashi, you can't be intimidated by him or he'll take you down."

Kasamatsu nodded, "If that's what you want."

He should have expected it, he really should have, but he relaxed a little too much. When Kise smashed into his side he nearly toppled over. "Kasamatsucchi, Aominecchi likes you! He doesn't even say that kind of stuff about me!"

The Kaijo ace was once again hit from both sides as Kasamatsu elbowed him sharply, and Aomine cuffed the side of his head a bit harder than what he had done to Sakurai earlier. Kise let go with a wheeze and pout after the punishment.

"You really should learn to control yourself a bit more Kise-kun," Kuroko advised his teammate while the golden haired player worked on catching his breath.

"But it wouldn't be as fun!" He protested breathlessly, a shining smile on his face.

"No coming to us crying if you get a broken rib someday," Aomine warned darkly.

Now it was Kasamatsu's turn to defend himself. "I don't hit him that hard, he's just a drama queen."

Aomine laughed, "Definitely want you on our team. The only other people capable of reining in Kise are Akashi and Tetsu."

"Wait, if he can rein him in, how come Kise is always jumping all over Kuroko?" Kagami interrupted with a glare thrown at both opposing aces.

"Mainly cause Tetsu lets him up to a certain point." Aomine answered with a shrug, and a hidden grin from Kuroko at Kagami's shock. "He only dislikes it when Kise starts pressing too hard. He is too heavy for Tetsu."

Kagami let out an irritated growl at Kise's smug look and Aomine's amusement. He was beginning to regret ever agreeing to come with Kuroko. Too late now though, he would feel like a colossal jerk if he backed out of a charity showcase just because of a little teasing.

"Kuro-chin, you look happy." Murasakibara stopped munching long enough to notice before going right back to the box of Pocky he was devouring.

"I am Murasakibara-kun, everyone is going to be playing together again. It will be nice for us to do that." Kuroko admitted.

He had only started to heal the Generation of Miracles, he had a feeling this showcase was going to draw out the brightness of all his lights. Because the one thing only Akashi was aware of, besides himself, was that he considered all of the Teiko regulars his lights. Aomine was just the brightest one at the time. He had a suspicion the stipulation about not playing with either Aomine or Kagami was to show this to the others.


	2. I Run To You

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Seirin gets a little visitor.

Chapter Two

I Run to You

"So let me get this straight," Hyuuga stated incredulously. "You two have agreed to help with a project that will eat up a lot of your free time, time we could be using to practice, and in this project you will be working closely with all the teams we are likely to face in the future giving them insight into our moves that they may not have had before. Did I miss anything?" This was almost too much to believe.

"Only that we want Izuki-senpai to come with us," Kuroko added, not quite as afraid of his Captain as he was the coach, and neither of them had managed to even come close to Akashi's level of fear inducement.

Hyuuga glared at both Kuroko and Kagami, "What could have possibly possessed you two to go along with this?" He demanded.

Kuroko shrugged, "It sounded like a good idea. Akashi-kun would not lie about something dealing with his team, there really is a charity involved, and it sounds like one we should be supporting."

In that moment Kagami realized just how much he respected Kuroko's ability to hold up under interrogation. Then again, he had met Akashi and had a pretty good idea what had built up Kuroko's resistance.

"Junpei calm down," Kiyoshi interrupted, "I agree with Kuroko, they were right to join in this cause. We should be supporting them too." He advised. "Besides, we have already played all the teams involved, some of them more than once, there isn't much they don't already know about us and Kuroko in particular. We just might learn something from them though."

"And just how do you suggest we support them?" He demanded, "They already have three of our strongest players involved."

"Give Kuroko, Kagami, and Izuki the time they will need to practice with their new teams." Kiyoshi explained like he had been planning it all along. "We might even want to invite them to use our gym for group practice. Wouldn't you agree that if this is going to happen, and it will I have no doubts about that, we should learn as much as we can in the process? You have to admit that the Generation of Miracles could definitely teach us a thing or two, even if it is unintentional."

Riko broke in between the boys, "Teppei is right," She directed that at Hyuuga. "I'd rather have them here where we can keep an eye on them."

"Will the other teams agree to it though?" Hyuuga was defeated and he knew it.

Kagami snorted, "Captain, if Kuroko asks them they will do it. You weren't there last night, it was really hilarious to see them trailing Kuroko around like puppies."

"They weren't that bad," Kuroko objected.

More laughter, "Oh yes they were." Now that his initial anger, read jealousy, had been tamped down a bit he found the humor in the situation.

"Kagami," Hyuuga warned making their ace go quiet. "No matter what last night was like, you would still be the best choice to approach them Kuroko. They know you better. Will you ask them?"

Kuroko sighed, "All I can do is ask, I can't guarantee anything."

"We don't expect you to," Kiyoshi assured. "In the end it will be up to them."

"If they do agree to practice here, what does that mean for us?" Koganei was worried it would turn into nothing but training with the Miracles.

Riko responded first, "We play with them. They are going to need opponents, and what better training can we get? Although Izuki you are going to have to work the hardest. You are improving steadily but I bet they are expecting the best from us." She analyzed.

"I can do that," Izuki agreed, "But I have a question for you Kuroko." That got their shadow's attention, "Why did you choose me? Wouldn't Kiyoshi be the better choice if you are facing off with the Generation of Miracles?" The duo had only told them the basics of the plan, not the reasoning behind placements.

"Don't sell yourself short Senpai," Kuroko reminded calmly. "Akashi did give an order that I was not allowed to bring the Uncrowned King, but I had already made my choice before he said that. You're skills are more like my own, and for my substitute I wanted someone who could coordinate well with the others. Also Akashi will be interested in testing the limits of your Eagle eye, and Takao's hawk eye too. He likes exploring new types of talent." There was also his concern about Kiyoshi's physical wellbeing. He always put his heart and soul into every game, he would be tempted to give too much of himself and injure his knees even further. No one wanted that, it was hard enough to watch him handle as much pain as he was already in.

Izuki nodded in acceptance, "As long as you're sure, than I have no problem playing in the showcase."

"Thank you Izuki-senpai," Kuroko responded gratefully.

The pun loving point guard smiled, "It actually sounds like fun." He confessed.

"You would think that way," Hyuuga muttered, "Most sane people would at least be a little nervous playing with the entire Generation of Miracles in the same game."

"Whoever said I was sane?" Izuki asked in mock surprise, teasing his old friend. "Kuroko and Kagami are fired up about this, why wouldn't I be the same way?"

"When you get trounced I'll remind you about saying that." Hyuuga warned in a very serious voice.

"What I want to know," Riko interrupted the teasing match going on between Izuki and Hyuuga, "Is who decided it would be a good idea to have Kagami and Aomine on the same side?"

Kagami had a very dark look on his face at hearing the question, while Kuroko had an expression that was surprisingly close to a smile, "It was Himuro-kun." Kuroko informed.

"He always did enjoy torturing me," Kagami mused, the dark look not receding in the slightest.

"I don't think it will be torture," Kuroko refuted, "Aomine-kun and Kagami-kun will probably learn to enjoy it."

"Probably?!" Kagami was not too happy with his shadow right then.

"Probably." Kuroko repeated himself. "Whether or not you do will depend on how well you can control your egos."

"Oi, I can control myself better than that bastard!" Kagami objected with vitriol, unconsciously proving he didn't have much control at all if Kuroko could bait him so easily.

"Prove it," Hyuuga challenged, deciding if everyone else was getting invested in the idea he would not be left behind. "You want to beat him? Be the bigger man and start working with him without protesting. See if he responds the same way."

"I doubt it," Kagami disagreed.

"Now you're just being stubborn," Hyuuga realized with a shake of his head.

Kiyoshi laughed, "You expected something different? From what I've seen the both of them are hotheads. They probably will work well together if they don't manage to kill each other first." He analyzed. He was one of the few who didn't think it was crazy to put them together, it would improve them both, though it was in different ways. That Himuro definitely knew his brother, and he must be good at reading people to realize Aomine was essentially exactly the same way.

"Can we just get to practice?" Kagami wanted this subject to drop, and quickly, the less he thought about his impending partnership with Aomine the better.

Riko blew her whistle, getting them started with their usual training amidst many hidden and not so hidden chuckles.

If Kuroko's passes were a little stronger, and Kagami's temper a little shorter during their mock game, no one was suicidal enough to comment; they were more than willing to enjoy the show though.

It was during a water break that they noticed something very, very, scary. Riko was skipping, and not just a little bit. As one synchronized unit every player gulped. That particular action from her always spelt trouble, or at least forecasting emanate pain by means of training partners.

"Do I want to know?" Was all Hyuuga asked.

"Probably not," Riko admitted with a near blinding smile.

Kiyoshi figured it out first, "Okay Riko, which team did you invite?"

She smirked, "You'll just have to wait until they get here. I want it to be a surprise."

With several suspicious glances sent her way, they cautiously returned to practice, all wondering who the mystery guest would be. They weren't even sure it would be that day, but it didn't matter, sooner or later they would be facing a Miracle again.

During a lull Kagami had to admit something he never thought he would, "You know I kind of hope it's Kise, I don't want to deal with Aomine, and Midorima is almost as bad."

"Next time I see him I'll have to tell Kise-kun that you prefer playing with him," Kuroko teased with his straightforward voice.

"If he stops hanging off of you long enough for you to say anything more than orders to get off," Kagami teased right back.

For some reason, Kuroko felt compelled to defend his teammate, "He doesn't do it all the time. He is just a little overly affectionate sometimes, it's just part of who he is. You get used to it after a while."

Kagami's eyes widened in realization, "Aomine was right, you do let him get away with it!" He accused.

"I was his mentor at Teiko," Kuroko admitted, surprising a couple people. "He liked challenging Aomine-kun, but he felt closer to me. I understood him to a point, I held just as much affection towards Aomine-kun and Akashi-kun for giving me a chance. I never quite had the heart to deny Kise-kun completely. The others have the same problem refusing him completely including Midorima-kun. The only exception to his exuberance was Aomine-kun. Kise-kun never had the urge to glomp Aomine-kun like he does the rest of us, he was Kise-kun's idol."

"Tch, he was still annoying though, at least he was good enough to be entertaining when we played." Aomine was there, standing in the entrance to the gym, Sakurai standing in his shadow. They had been there long enough Aomine heard the majority of the conversation about Kise.

"Coach, what the hell, you invited them!" Kagami turned around to voice his displeasure to Riko.

She just laughed, "You'll need the most practice getting used to them, consider it a favor Kagami. At least you can attempt it without all of the others present." She pointed out, reminding him if their initial training was an epic failure the only ones that would be aware of it was the Touou players and Seirin, the Miracles wouldn't be involved yet; or worse his brother who would never let him live it down.

"I didn't come here for that," Aomine immediately refuted. "I came for Tetsu. I wanted to show Bakagami here what he can do with a brighter light." The challenge came through loud and clear, making Kagami start to square off with him until a very large hand came down on his shoulder.

"I wouldn't mind seeing you work with Kuroko," Kiyoshi admitted pleasantly. "I bet it is something worth seeing."

"Whatdya say Tetsu, give them a show?" Aomine invited his shadow, striding into the gym, leaving Sakurai to stand unsurely in the doorway.

Riko realized the problem, "Sakurai-kun get over here, I doubt you want to miss this."

Touou's shooting guard half-ran over to the gathered Seirin players in order to follow the command. His apologies were at least a lot quieter than normal, they assumed the cause was a threat or several from Aomine.

"Aomine-kun, we need at least one more person playing with us, and there should be an opponent." Kuroko pointed out, coming to stand next to his first light.

"You already chose a person to sub for you, we'll bring him to play with us. I don't really care about the opponent."

"Three on three?" Kuroko offered.

Aomine shrugged, "Why not?"

Kagami started forward immediately, followed a bit slower by Hyuuga and Kiyoshi. Too bad Riko had a problem with that line-up, "I don't think so Teppei, I warned you yesterday I wasn't going to let you on the court for the whole practice. Let Mitobe or Koganei play."

Kiyoshi gritted his teeth but, not wanting to make a scene in front of their guests, he acquiesced to her order without argument. While he returned to the sidelines with the others Mitobe and Koganei shared a look, Mitobe nodding and taking Kiyoshi's place.

By the time Mitobe positioned himself on the court, Izuki had joined Aomine and Kuroko. "Try to keep up," Aomine ordered the Seirin regulars and what followed was one of the most brutal games they had ever witnessed. No one resorted to the dirty tactics of Kirisaki Dai Ichi, no this was raw talent condensed into a show piece.

The watching crowd was treated to the sight of Teiko's original light and shadow prove exactly why that team was especially deadly. With Izuki's eagle eye helping him position himself, Kuroko and Aomine settled into a high speed rhythm of passing and scoring, cutting through Kagami's team like butter.

"I've never seen Aomine play like that," Sakurai admitted. "The closest was during the Kaijo game in the Inter-high."

"Hmm, maybe he does recognize their connections from Teiko," Riko hypothesized. "If he gets the most enjoyment out of Kise-kun and Kuroko-kun it would make sense, from what Kuroko-kun has told us he played with them the most."

Kiyoshi spoke up, still a little irritated he was benched but he did understand, "As much as he tries to hide it, I can tell he actually has a heart. He is still human, of course he would recognize the people closest to him, he was just a little lost for a while." The proof behind Kiyoshi's observation was the small smile on Aomine's face as he received a pass from Kuroko and scored against Kagami.

They fell silent again, watching the perfect harmonization between Aomine and Kuroko for the first time. They now had a new understanding of what drew Kuroko to Kagami when they arrived at Seirin. It was hard to call which duo would actually perform better. The styles might be different, but their attitude was exactly the same now that Kuroko had forcibly dragged Aomine out of his depression.

The game ended with Kuroko's side winning, though it wasn't as wide a gap as Aomine's earlier boasting suggested. He was forced to give Kagami a bit more respect, though he did it grudgingly. Maybe they could work out some arrangement to make the whole teammate thing successful. Maybe.

The players returned to the bench, Izuki, Hyuuga, and Mitobe collapsing next to their teammates. It had taken everything they had to keep up with Kuroko, Aomine, and Kagami.

They were given time to gulp water and regulate their breathing before anything was said.

"Not bad, something to work with anyway," Aomine commented with an arm slung around Kuroko's shoulders, a position the others realized was his natural pose with Kuroko.

Kagami was not about to be left behind, his arm adding to Aomine's from the other side. "I don't think you have the right to talk down to us anymore. We've already proven we can beat you," He reminded, enjoying seen the anger growing in Aomine's stance.

"You beat me once, and only once," Aomine argued, "A large part of that was luck and Tetsu."

"You just summed up all of our games, we never underestimate Kuroko's involvement," Kagami countered dismissively. "And almost all basketball games involve luck. Midorima takes that to extreme, but even you have to admit it's a part of the game."

They were interrupted out of their verbal spar when Kuroko shook both of them off, "What did I tell you about involving me in your arguments?" He reprimanded. "There had to be something else you can talk about."

Kagami and Aomine glared at each other for a few moments, then forced themselves to look away; going silent in response to Kuroko.

Heads turned towards Kiyoshi when he broke out into laughter, "Kagami you were so eager to laugh at the Miracles reaction to Kuroko but you're doing it too, right now." He observed, taking a lot of effort to stifle his chuckling.

"Just what were you saying about us Bakagami?" Aomine asked angrily, with Kagami stubbornly refusing to answer.

Turns out he didn't have to, Hyuuga answered for him, hey it was Kagami and Kuroko's fault the Touou ace was here at all. Might as well get some payback in, "He compared the Generation of Miracles to a bunch of puppies."

"You what!?" Aomine protested, "Where the hell did that come from?"

"You don't see yourselves when you're around Kuroko," Kagami defended himself now that the cat was out of the bag.

Aomine huffed, "So what if we are close to him? He was our shadow first. If it wasn't for Akashi and I Tetsu wouldn't be here."

Seeing the opportunity to hopefully quell some of the animosity, Riko jumped on the chance. "Kuroko-kun said something similar earlier. What do you two mean by that?"

Aomine spared her a glance before refocusing on Kuroko, "It's exactly what it sounds like. I found Tetsu staying late every day after practice to keep pushing himself harder. I started talking to him when I saw his resolve, that's how we made friends and what prompted me to introduce him to Akashi. It didn't take Akashi a full hour to realize Tetsu had talent in a different way than the rest of us. As far as I know Tetsu is the only one of us to be completely mentored and trained by Akashi."

"Why the special treatment?" Hyuuga asked with a mix of curiosity at the situation and anger that a captain would show favoritism.

"Akashi-kun was the only one who had a good idea how to train me." Kuroko admitted. "The rest of the Miracles were paired together to train in the beginning. Akashi was my only option until I got good enough to be some use in games. Aomine-kun was the one to help me complete misdirection though, but we had to do it while playing in a game."

"And learning something for yourself doesn't count as training. We gave him the opportunity, it was up to him to finish it." Aomine didn't want any of Kuroko's achievements to go overlooked.

Kuroko had heard the anger in his current captain's voice. "Akashi-kun was different back then. He wasn't picking favorites, he paired us off in the best match-ups to let our power grow. It just ended up that he was my match up."

Now that sparked Kiyoshi's interest, "If it was you and Akashi, how were the others paired off?"

"He put Midorima with Murasakibara," Aomine started to respond first. "I was originally paired with Haizaki, but that switched to Kise when he joined."

"Ah now I understand," Kiyoshi observed. "Midorima's shooting skills were built because he needed to get past Murasakibara's defense; a high arcing shot from a distance would be a good way of doing that. I'm guessing Kise was put with you so he could catch up quickly since he joined late."

Kuroko nodded, "You're right. Then when we would have mock games we would all have to bring our talents together, it was usually matches of three on three, with the members of the training pairs going to opposite sides."

"During games Tetsu and I were always on the same side, we had to be if we wanted a chance to get passed Akashi." Aomine added, and his mischievous smile shocked the watchers as he turned to look at Kuroko, "The first time I had to catch one of his Ignite passes I thought he would break my hand."

Kiyoshi laughed, "I know the feeling, my hand was sore for a few days after the first time I caught one."

"The rest of us can catch one, maybe two, in the course of a game. It's only Kagami and Kiyoshi that can catch more, but Kagami lasts the longest." Izuki informed, wondering how Aomine would react to the knowledge.

"It used to be only the Teiko regulars that could do it, that your team can catch it is actually pretty surprising," Aomine grudgingly admitted.

Kagami was about to go for Aomine's throat when Kuroko held him back with a tight grip on his jersey, "Kagami-kun don't start. That was actually a compliment from Aomine-kun."

Kagami glared at his shadow, "What do you mean compliment?" He demanded.

Kuroko sighed at his stubbornness, what is it about his lights that they must be so incredibly pig headed? "Kagami-kun how often have you heard Aomine-kun actually acknowledge another team's skill?"

"He never does," Sakurai spoke up, reminding the others he was there and earning a glare from Aomine that had him ducking and nearly burst with the effort of holding back his apologies.

"Of course the one thing you manage to say would be about me," Aomine responded with a shake of his head. "I brought you so you could learn something and maybe play a little, didn't bring you so you could hide away like a mushroom."

At Sakurai's crestfallen look Riko stepped in, "Sakurai kun, want to play in the next game? We should have those two oafs at least try to coordinate, it would be good to have you on the other side." She offered.

"H-h-Hai," Sakurai stuttered his agreement. All of them were forced to ignore the death glare shared between Kagami and Aomine at hearing Riko's suggestion.

"Who wants to be the sacrificial lamb and be on Aomine and Kagami's side?" Riko asked with just enough seriousness her team sweat-dropped.

"They'd probably kill each other if we put in Kuroko, so I'll go." Hyuuga stepped up, a dark cloud going over the others like he had just announced he was dying.

"Riko, I want to play in this game, put me with Kuroko and Sakurai," Kiyoshi practically begged. "I've rested long enough and it's just practice, I'll be fine."

She looked at his pleading gaze and caved, "Oh fine, but if I see you struggling one little bit Kiyoshi Teppei, I will pull you out faster than you can say substitution." Riko warned.

"Thanks Riko!" He treated her to a blinding smile she could only shake her head at.

"Well what are you waiting for? Get on the court!" She ordered, blowing her whistle.

Scrambling to obey, the boys raced out to the center of the court, Izuki coming to stand by Riko, "You know, I think Hyuuga is in more danger than Kiyoshi. Kagami and Aomine will not be at full power if they are concentrating on each other more than their opponent, Hyuuga will have to keep up with that."

"I know," Riko admitted, "I wouldn't have sent him out otherwise no matter how much he begged."

"So what do you think? Are you going to try and coach all of them, or let things be?" Izuki inquired, looking at her out of the corner of his eye.

She huffed, "With that much talent? I'm not sure I can resist." Riko confessed. "You've seen how much Kagami has grown since he started, the others were already blooming long before he did. The sheer amount of power would be interesting to work with."

"I thought so," Izuki revealed, "I think they would benefit from you, we train differently than they are used to it will be good for them to change it up."

"It works the other way too," She cautioned. "We could learn a lot from their methods as well. There is going to be at least two other coaches involved in this from Kaijo and Rakuzan; you've seen how good their teams are. Plus Akashi is the one who formed the Generation of Miracles he must have some insight on the best way to motivate them."

"Yes, but didn't that just cause the Miracles more harm than good?" Kuroko had been spending the last year desperately trying to wake up his old teammates; it was Akashi's leadership that meant he had to do it in the first place.

Riko slumped a bit, "I know, but hopefully now they recognize the trap they fell into and can keep it from happening again. They owe Kuroko that much. Plus with Kasamatsu and I involved we can possibly curb Akashi's more outlandish ideas."

"True," Izuki agreed, before refocusing on the barely begun game in front of them.

Kiyoshi had grabbed the tip off, Aomine's charge forcing him to immediately pass to Kuroko, the shadow redirecting it to Sakurai only to have the ball stolen by Kagami.

They raced across the court, and Kagami leapt for a dunk, Kiyoshi grabbing the rebound faking a pass and making a shot.

Aomine captured the ball, using his speed and agility to avoid Kiyoshi and Sakurai heading towards the other basket, hoping to outrun the Ironheart. Too bad Kiyoshi had been kidding when he said he had rested enough, catching up to Aomine, with Sakurai and Kuroko pressuring him from the side.

He probably could have taken a shot, but the rebound would go to Kiyoshi he knew it, so with a growl of annoyance Aomine Daiki passed the ball. Kagami caught it, slamming it into the hoop to give Aomine time to get under the basket and start returning to the other side.

Sakurai attempted to block him, having realized what was happening at the other hoop and running to get in position first.

Aomine dodged him, only to have Kuroko come up behind him using Sakurai's attempted block as cover to steal the ball. Sakurai grabbed the ball, set himself up, and made a three pointer. Kiyoshi grabbing the rebound and passing right back, only Hyuuga had predicted the move, intercepting the ball and making his own three point shot. Kagami took the rebound, made a fake towards the hoop to cover the pass to Aomine who ran and dunked it into the other hoop quicker than their opponents could react.

The game continued with a face paced back and forth run across the court. The animosity between Aomine and Kagami driving them to outdo each other, which included passing at the right time to stop a block or steal. Hyuuga and Sakurai were scoring almost as many points as the aces simply because they were left unguarded so the opponent could put pressure on the stars.

Riko called the match when Kagami's side was four points up, both Kiyoshi and Kuroko were to the point of not being able to keep up anymore. Time to quit before there was an injury.

"Hey Bakagami, I think we agree I should be power forward on our side, you can take small forward." He baited, waiting for the explosion.

He wasn't disappointed, "Like hell, I'm the lead!" Kagami protested.

"Who has more experience? That would be me," Aomine pointed out, hiding his smile at Kagami's predictability.

"Why does that matter?!" Kagami raged, "Besides I played basketball the whole time I was in America."

Aomine looked like the cat that caught the canary, "Pity, to think all that time was a waste."

Kagami was in the process of lunging when Riko's elbow came down on his back, doing the job of stopping him for Kuroko. "Why don't you play each other for it? A little game of one on one before a match, whoever wins leads that game." Riko advised. It would be both a good warm up, and a way of solving the fight.

"I think you should do that," Kuroko agreed with Riko. "You want to fight? Do it on the court."

"Well what do you say Ahomine, want to fight for it?" Kagami challenged.

"Bring it on," Aomine accepted the challenge, a smile playing on his lips. It had been a very long time since he had a rival worth playing. With Akashi's idea he would be able to play Kagami, and Kise, as much as his basketball laden heart could take.

Aomine's smile was not as surprising as Kuroko's. "I can't wait to watch." He stated simply. It would be very interesting to see his lights came against each other; though nothing compared to watching the two of them playing together. He had nearly missed a pass or two while observing them in the mock game and that was only going to get worse as Kagami and Aomine grew more in sync.

Kiyoshi bumped his shoulder against Kuroko's, and spoke in a stage whisper, "Are you sure you want to encourage them like that?"

He was the only one to see Kuroko's expression change to one of excitement, "Oh definitely."

"So you want to see them rip each other apart?" There was quite a bit of shock in his voice.

"No, just want them to settle their arguments without using me as the rope in a tug-of-war." Kuroko explained, both his lights breaking their glare at each other to look at Kuroko with betrayal in their eyes.

"Oi, Kuroko we're not that bad," Kagami protested.

"What's the meaning of that Tetsu?" Aomine demanded at the same time.

The rest of Seirin was either fighting back chuckles or outright laughing at that, Kiyoshi the loudest. He left Kuroko's side to grab up a very irritated Kagami and Aomine, leaning all his weight across their shoulders. "You do know you just proved his point right? You two really are very much alike."

"Not on your life," Aomine disagreed, attempting and failing to shake off Kiyoshi.

Kagami was also failing to dislodge his senior, he had an even tighter grip than Kise, "I'm not anything like him!"

Kuroko once again betrayed them, "Yes you are Kagami-kun, Aomine-kun."

The aces' protests fell on deaf ears after that, all the others laughing at them.


	3. Courtesy Call

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A wild Kise appears!

Chapter Three

Courtesy Call

Kuroko watched with amusement concealed behind the cover of the book he was pretending to read as their teacher reprimanded Kagami yet again for falling asleep during class. He and Aomine had spent hours last night playing against each other, even long after Seirin's practice was done they found a street ball court and kept at it. He didn't doubt his first Light was passed out on his favorite roof top with Momoi screaming at him just like Kagami probably wished he could be doing right now, well preferably excluding the part involving Momoi's chastisement.

The amazing thing about the matches the day before is Aomine did not win them all, the majority yes, but Kagami was improving quickly. It wouldn't be long before they were winning fifty-fifty if Kuroko was judging it right. He had known when first approaching Kagami that while he wasn't on the level of the Miracles yet, he would quickly get there; he hadn't needed Kise to tell him for him to figure it out. A few pushes in the right direction and he had blown away all expectations.

Now if only he could find a way to rein in their egos when they weren't on the court. He doubted that would happen, and truly he didn't mind it most of the time, it would just be nice if they came with an off switch. All the Miracles fell prey to that, Kuroko could attest to that truth, but they all showed it in different ways.

Aomine was pure cocky arrogance, and most of his claims were justified, but that arrogance was his undoing. In becoming the best he lost the thrill of battling an opponent of equal skill. He turned himself into a recluse by loving the game so much he ended up hating it. He split off from Kuroko, and in the process hurt the both of them.

Midorima had his own pride, his whole life was devoted to luck, from the moment he woke up until he went to bed he had his horoscope guiding his every step. The thing is, when he did that, it tended to work. He never missed a shot that wasn't interfered with by an opposing player, and even then it was incredibly rare for a player to block his shots. So far the only ones that could do it consistently were Murasakibara and Kagami, though Aomine could do it on occasions it wasn't all the time and Kise hadn't managed it at all yet. The problem was with all the things Midorima did to ensure his luck, he estranged himself from people, they just didn't understand him. Kuroko knew everyone teased him about being a Tsundere, but he felt it was more like Midorima just didn't know how he was supposed to react to people and situations so he drew into himself.

Murasakibara didn't like basketball, he was good at it, but he didn't like it. He was more stubbornness than pride. He could have turned Akashi down, but no, he chose to play a game he didn't like just because he could crush his opponents. In that way he was a bit like Aomine. Even that wasn't quite true though, Aomine thrashed other players because he didn't know how not to, Murasakibara did it because Akashi told him to. His childlike mind could have something to do with how easily he let himself be led by Akashi. All the Miracles were bound to their captain in one way or another, but Kuroko had always noticed that out of all of them Murasakibara was the closest thing to a real friend Akashi had; everyone else was a teammate or student.

Kise was the oddity, he was extremely competitive –just like the rest of the Miracles- but he didn't have quite the same arrogance issues. Not since he discovered basketball any way. Of the whole Generation of Miracles he managed to keep a greater love for the game rather than just a rush for points. Granted that might stem from the others hogging the ball during a game, it still meant he had a heart left in him. His over-exuberance was fostered by the fact he had found somewhere he belonged. A place no matter how quickly he learned there would still be something more to try. He was well on his way down the road of apathy towards everything else until he joined the basketball club.

Akashi was in a class all his own. Kuroko didn't think there was a strong enough word to describe his personality. Arrogance hardly began to cover the whole truth of his emotions, though that was certainly a place to start. He was the Red King who saw everything, and knew everything. He would have been defeated long ago if it wasn't for the fact he actually was right about most everything. Hard to argue with that. His problem was the same as Midorima's though magnified to an unheard of scale. Akashi did not have normal relationships with the people around him, he just didn't. He either ruled them or dismissed them, and in this time and place that was hardly the way to entreat yourself to anyone.

Kuroko had dealt with all of their differing personalities to the point of tailoring his own skills to complement theirs; a good shadow follows the light not the other way around. Believe it or not, he enjoyed playing with the idiots. They gave him something he never thought he would have; recognition. He had always been unnoticeable but this group of super powered athletes had looked at him and actually saw what he was capable of. First Aomine and then Akashi had taken a good look at him and realized his potential; something even Kuroko didn't know he could do. Sure it would be nice to be able to do more on the court, but if his friends were smiling he was happy to smile with them. It's what made the separation at the end of their Teiko days all the more painful.

With a look at the once again sleeping Kagami in front of him, he reminded himself he had six over-arrogant but wonderfully talented Lights to call his own. He had succeeded in waking them up and bringing them back to themselves.

…Maybe he didn't need that off switch after all?

XxxxxX

Okay, maybe he did need that switch. This change of heart was brought about by the tall model currently draping himself over Kuroko.

It was hard but not impossible to shake Kise off when he got in these moods. Sometimes Kuroko took care of it himself, and others he waited for someone to come to his rescue. This was one of the days where he felt like doing something himself. He wiggled out of Kise's grasp leaving him holding onto air with tears running down from his golden eyes.

"Kurokocchi! Don't push me away, I miss you Kurokocchi!" He was in the middle of making another attempt at smothering the shadow when Kasamatsu interrupted by slamming his arm down onto Kise's back before he could finish a lunge.

"It's alright Kasamatsu-san, you don't have to do that," Kuroko assured before putting his focus back on Kise. "You can calm down now Kise-kun, we are going to get to play together again. Isn't that what you have been wanting? We can't do that if you don't let go of me." He pointed out reasonably, Kise's nearly blinding smile was contagious to everyone but Kuroko and even then he felt his lips turn up at the sight.

Kise was practically bouncing as he responded happily, "It's going to be so much fun Kurokocchi! I'm mad though Aominecchi got to play first. I should have been first to play with Kurokocchi!"

His sincerity and enthusiasm were infectious, and despite themselves the Seirin players began to relax around the Kaijo ace, while Kasamatsu took the opportunity to ditch his teammate so he could talk to Hyuuga and Riko without the annoyance.

"Hey Kise, do you ever get serious?" Kagami finally came out and asked.

In the next few moments Kise's expression changed completely, from happy smiling dork, to something cold and hard. Nearly as challenging as Aomine, but worse in some ways since it was so far from his normal expression, "Of course I do, but you wouldn't like it if I was like this all the time." Finished speaking he returned to his usual smiling countenance.

Kagami gulped, "Right, last thing we need is two Aomines."

"Kagami-kun, why are you so worked up now?" No one was fooled by Kuroko's mild tone, and braced themselves for the punch line, "Didn't you say just a few days ago that you hoped our guest would be Kise-kun?"

"Argh, maybe out of a choice between evils I did," Kagami wouldn't meet his shadow's eyes.

He should have looked up, it would have given him some warning what was to come if he had seen Kise's sudden predatory gaze. "You were that eager to face me again Kagamicchi?" He teased brightly, the humor covering his seriousness.

"Just didn't want to deal with Aomine or Midorima," Kagami figured if he admitted it once, he would admit it again to Kise's face. It wasn't like he had anything to hide.

Kise actually laughed, "That does sound like Kagamicchi, but really they aren't that bad. Midorima even responds whenever I text, none of the others do." An over-exaggerated frown crossed his face while admitting that."

"Yeah he does, but it's usually because he is telling you to go die," Kasamatsu had returned to the circle of chatting players with Hyuuga and Riko.

Kise pouted, "Well at least he answers," He sounded very disgruntled at that.

"Kise-kun, maybe you shouldn't be so glad to receive Midorima-kun's death threats." Kuroko advised, bracing himself encase Kise decided to glomp him since he spoke up again.

Kise crossed his arms and spoke indignity, "It isn't all death threats, sometimes I get a real answer. He just gets cranky when I bring up basketball," He defended himself, "I wished him luck before his games and he told me to go die."

"Kise-kun you should know better, us wishing each other good luck is like saying we are going to need it in order to win. Especially if we have played the opponent before and the other one of us hasn't." Despite using it to chastise Kise, Kuroko was really glad he could use the term 'us' involving the Miracles without feeling like there was a dagger driven into his heart. It was okay to remember the good times again because he had come face to face with the effects of the bad times and he won out against them. "You saying that to Midorima-kun would make him think you were mocking him. I'm kind of surprised the response was as tame as that; at least with him you can be relatively sure he won't carry his threats out."

"I wasn't mocking Midorimacchi," He was unusually insistent on that. "I meant it like saying I was rooting for him, not saying he needed it to win."

"I'm not the one you needed to tell that to," Kuroko pointed out calmly.

"I didn't know I had to," Kise admitted, "I thought he was just being stubborn again."

Hyuuga nearly snorted trying to hold in his laughter, "From what I've seen that isn't a bad guess. All the Miracles are extremely stubborn, and yes Kuroko I mean you too."

"I don't mind senpai," Kuroko didn't protest, he knew it was true, that was one of the few things Seirin hadn't managed to stamp out of him from his days at Teiko. It wasn't something he thought would ever change to be honest.

Kise turned a surprisingly sharp gaze towards the Seirin captain, "Kurokocchi is the most stubborn of all of us. He wouldn't have done what he did, even with your team backing him up, if he wasn't so persistent."

Kagami huffed, "You aren't telling us anything we don't already know. You think we haven't seen him in action? He works harder than all of us just to keep up, if that isn't stubbornness than I don't know what is."

"As productive as this conversation is," Hyuuga interjected with no small amount of sarcasm, "Didn't you come to play basketball?"

"Yep, I want to play with Kurokocchi again," Kise chirped once again back to his trademark sunny personality. "We even get to be on the same team!" It was reassuring to hear the honesty in the exclamation, Kise was just as excited about playing with Kuroko again as the shadow was to have his lights back the way they used to be.

Kagami was an intricate part of his life now, but no matter how strong their bond had grown, there was no denying the influence his old teammates still had over him.

"Okay so how are we going to split up the teams? Yesterday was three on three, but Aomine isn't here to back up Kagami like they did yesterday. Should we shift the numbers around?" Izuki asked getting down to business.

"If you are going against Kurokocchi and me, three on three is a bad idea," Kise warned. "Kurokocchi usually wins no matter what side he is on, it took two aces for that not to happen. Give us three and the other side five."

"I wouldn't argue with him," Kasamatsu admitted. "He's actually good at judging skills, he has to be in order to copy them properly."

"If Kise is so good at judging why was he surprised we could beat you?" Koganei asked with more curiosity than arrogance, which saved him from incurring the wraith of the Kaijo players.

"You caught us off guard, we didn't expect to have to play that hard. He didn't underestimate you, he overestimated us in that situation. He knows exactly what our team is capable of, but didn't know we wouldn't be playing on that level the whole time." Kasamatsu explained. That particular loss still smarted a little, not because they couldn't belive it, but because they hadn't seen it coming. Usually he at least had a clue which team might be able to beat them, before Kaijo had to play them.

Hyuuga got a contemplative look on his face, "Who do you think would win if we faced each other again?"

"I don't know," Kasamatsu confessed, "Both teams have grown since we last played, I have seen your matches and know you are strong, but we are stronger as well."

"Losing against Aominecchi was a good motivator," Kise grumbled, "At least I knew after that how much more was possible for me."

"You learned to copy the other Miracles," Riko noted, "That couldn't have been easy."

Kise's smile was a little more downcast, memories clouding him as he answered, "But it was easy. I had played all of them almost every day; striving to be as good as they were. When I realized it was possible to copy Aominecchi it woke me up and taught me if I could match him, I could do it with the others. I had watched all of their talents bloom for three years before leaving Teiko. Of course I could remember it all when I finally had enough confidence in myself to use it."

"Kise-kun works hard," Kuroko just knew he was going to end up regretting this, but he continued anyway. "He has hurt himself many times while trying to copy moves his body wasn't quite ready to handle. It didn't stop him though. Akashi-kun got mad at him when he did that because it compromised his playing ability in future quarters and possibly the next game we played."

Kise hugged him, he had expected that, but it wasn't so tight he couldn't breathe yet, "Thank you Kurokocchi! I just wanted to be able to help more. I saw how great everyone else was and needed to catch up."

Kasamatsu wacked him upside the head, "Idiot if you push yourself too hard you really will damage yourself. After our game again Touou I had to help you off the court, you couldn't even stand."

"I wasn't going to back down from Aominecchi," Kise pressed releasing Kuroko to look at his captain. "You guys were counting on me."

"Don't be too hard on him Kasamatsu-san," Riko interrupted, "Aomine came away from that match injured too. We know from Touou's manager that he was kept out of the Inter-High finals because of it, he mainly damaged his elbow. I don't think it's possible for two of the Miracles to go against each other without pushing themselves too hard. Kuroko-kun included in that."

If you were looking closely you could see the pink on Kuroko's cheeks, "I don't push myself any harder against them than I do in any other game." He attempted to refute.

"Oh yes you do," Kagami refused to let his shadow get out of this one. "It might be about the same physically but you only show us what you're capable of planning when we are facing one of them. The only time I have seen an exception to that is when we played Kirisaki. They made you mad and you beat them down."

"Akashicchi always listened to Kurokocchi's plans," Kise revealed. "Midorimacchi was the second in command, but Kurokocchi was better at creating plays. Oh and we all knew better than to make Kurokocchi mad, Aominecchi's hand needed to be iced more than once."

As one man Seirin turned to look at Kuroko in awe. "I knew you were good, but how come you never told us you were –that- good!" Riko demanded.

Kuroko wouldn't meet her eyes, "I didn't want the same thing that happened at Teiko to happen at Seirin. The minute you have a top player you automatically have a bottom, and that's what tore us apart. Everyone wanted the top spot."

"We don't call Kurokocchi the phantom sixth player for nothing, he really is one of us." Kise assured. "But I think that was a bad thing too. We acknowledge Kurokocchi as one of us, but when it came down to games more and more pressure was put on us to score individually, passing was to be done as a last resort because it meant lowering your own numbers and increasing someone else's. We knew his skill, but we couldn't use it in other words." He looked ashamed of himself, and that was an expression they never thought they would see on the model's face.

"That's terrible!" Riko realized with horror. "I want to meet this Akashi and give him a piece of my mind, or preferably my fist. How could a Captain do that to his team, and what kind of coach would let him?"

"Don't blame Akashi-kun for all of it," Kuroko disagreed, "He was a product of Teiko's ideals. He didn't always act the way he did at the end, Kise-kun was right about him, but it was after he changed. In the beginning he was hard on us, but not to the point of pitting us against each other to grapple for points. With Teiko's motto emphasizing victory over anything else he gradually changed into the Akashi-kun you met at the Winter Cup."

"Akashicchi was pushing himself just as hard as us, don't only blame him, blame Teiko for changing him." Kise agreed.

"We'll just have to wait and see," Riko wasn't convinced; from what she had witnessed she wouldn't put it past all the Miracles to defend their Captain even if he was still a bloodthirsty tyrant. She still wanted to have a word or several with the Rakuzan captain before letting him come too close to her boys. "Now we've stood around quite long enough, Kuroko-kun, Kise-kun, and Izuki-kun get out on the court. For the other side, Kasamatsu-san, Kagami-kun, Mitobe-kun, Junpei, and yes Teppei you can play but the same rules apply here as it did playing with Touou."

It was only when all the mentioned players were safely on the court that Koganei came up by Riko, "Do you believe them? About their captain?" Seems like the cat like boy had caught onto the same things Riko had.

"Yes and no," Riko admitted splitting her focus between Koganei and the game, pleased to see Kuroko and Kise syncing up well. She had been afraid their smallest player would be too used to his primary Lights to function well with others, Kuroko was proving her wrong all over the place and she couldn't be happier about it. "I think they believe what they are saying. That doesn't make it true though. I don't think everything we've seen and heard about Akashi came from a school motto, I just don't know how much of his personality is indoctrinated or natural."

Koganei was watching the game as well, and while watching his appreciation for Kuroko grew, he was glad they had him on their team instead of trying to face him. Even with Kise instead of Kagami or Aomine the effects of Kuroko's passes were felt. Kise had definitely gotten more efficient in his copying too. After all the effort he expended to learn Aomine's entire style in the space of a game, he was now capable of taking on more than one new move at a time. "I don't know, but I think it says something that all the Miracles rapidly gained skill once they were free of Teiko, even Kuroko was shocked at how different Kise was."

"Separating them may have been the best thing for them, and Kuroko-kun did tell us it was planned that they all go to different high schools. Maybe it was the last thing Akashi could do for his team that showed he actually had a heart." It was all conjecture though, and the game in front of her was far more interesting than musings that would be answered by meeting the feared player.

With that in mind Riko and Koganei fell silent, and simply enjoyed the game with the rest of the Seirin players left on the bench. Furihata leaned over to whisper to Fukuda, "I hope we get to play soon."

"Yeah it would be great to get out there," Fukuda agreed, Kawahara nodding along with him.

"Hey first years, Koga and I haven't played yet either, just relax we'll get our shot." Tsuchida chided. He completely understood their plight, but there wasn't much they could do about it except train hard and be patient until they were put on the court.

The trio quieted but kept fidgeting in their seats, every time a particularly good play was made they had to forcibly restrain themselves from running onto the court and joining in. This was a whole new kind of torture for the basketball enthusiasts.

The first game ended with a close match up of 52 to 55 in favor of Kagami's team. Kise had been right, even one more player on their side would have meant victory, but this spread had kept them all working to the very end.

Riko looked them over critically, "I think for the next round we should pull Kise-kun and Kagami-kun out of the game. I want Izuki-kun and Kasamatsu-san to get just as much practice in but you two are taking over most of the court."

"How do you want us to split up this time?" Kiyoshi asked before going back to chugging water and wiping the sweat off his face and neck.

"First years are restless, let's give them some time on the court," Riko hadn't missed the exchange behind her. "Teppei you switch over to Kuroko-kun's side. We will keep three there. On the other let's have Junpei, Tsuchida, Fukuda, and Kawahara along with Kasamatsu."

When their names were mentioned the previously benched players practically exploded onto the court with loud whoops, only Furihata left looking disgruntled. "Sorry Furihata-kun, but you've been training to be a point guard and we already have two plus Kuroko backing up the one side. I'll put you in when we have to give Kuroko-kun a rest." She promised. "Oh and Koganei, I'm subbing you in for Teppei after this. I don't want him getting reckless."

Both left out players had wide smiles on their face in anticipation of getting to play.

"And that's what Teiko was missing the last year or so," Kise commented collapsing on the bench and dragging his water bottle over to him, oh he wasn't that tired yet, he just didn't stand on decorum much when he was away from his mass of fans for once.

"What? Happiness?" Kagami guessed, mirroring the copycat and collapsing on the bench.

"Something like that," Kise admitted, "There wasn't any joy in the game itself anymore, it was all about points and winning rather than having fun with each other. You guys still have that. I noticed it the first time we played against each other, I'm glad that hasn't changed with you winning your way up to and through the Winter Cup."

"So you guys winning really did mess the Miracles up," Kagami mused. "Can't say I'm surprised. You looked at me like I was an alien when I told you it was better if I couldn't win. There's no fun in it if you are guaranteed to win."

Kise leaned back on the bench supporting himself with his arms and letting his head fall lazily to the side so he could look at Kagami while talking, "You sound like Aominecchi when you say that. He changed the most out of all of us, and it was because he was too strong. He didn't have anyone able to stand against him. I've tried and it just wasn't quite enough, you could stand toe to toe with him and win. He's been waiting for a rival like you for a very long time."

"I didn't win alone," Kagami returned hotly, a pointed look out to the court where Kuroko had redirected a pass from Izuki to Kiyoshi, the tall center neatly putting it through the hoop. "We have Kuroko standing with us."

Kise's eyes gleamed mischievously, "Won't it be interesting to see how much of you and Aominecchi's skill is because of Kurokocchi. He will be working with either me or Himurocchi, if we can beat the both of you it says something now doesn't it?"

"Maybe me, I have no shame in admitting if it wasn't for Kuroko I wouldn't be this good, but that's both because we team up in games but also because seeing him work so hard makes me want to train just as harshly." Kagami willingly confessed, "Aomine has been playing solo for a while now, and we still barely managed to beat him."

"But you did beat him," Kise reiterated, "No one else has, and Kurokocchi couldn't have done it alone either. There is a reason he is a shadow, when it works the way it's supposed to then both sides grow stronger. He always said it was the brighter the light the darker the shadow, because he boosted us, but the way we saw it his darkness is what made the Light shine so brightly."

"You really think your side is going to be able to beat ours at the showcase?" That wasn't hard to guess from what little Kise had already said about the upcoming charity matches.

"We might be able to, and really you've played Aominecchi twice, you have to know what it means if I think we even come close. I know I can play with Kurokocchi, we've done it before, but I don't know about the others on our side." Kise analyzed with a shrug, he was more interested in being able to play basketball with all of his friends again then he was about winning. The change of heart felt good compared to how it was before a big tournament in Teiko.

"Hell, I don't have a clue what's going to happen. I've never really played against Kuroko except in practice matches. I always get this feeling he's holding back somehow, and I don't want that to happen anymore." Kagami admitted.

"He does hold back, but that's our fault, he saw us destroy ourselves by not keeping control over ourselves. His way won out so there must be something to that." Kise explained.

"His way does seem the best," Kagami agreed, working up enough curiosity to wonder why he was already so relaxed around the Kaijo ace. Huh, must just be because he wasn't Aomine.

Kise was feeling similarly, here was his competition if he wanted to be called Kuroko's light again, but he just couldn't get himself to even dislike Kagami much less hate him. "You know, we hurt Kurokocchi really badly, I don't know all the details only Akashicchi does. I only know that he was already bleeding, but something happened in that last game of the championship that made Kurokocchi break away completely. I didn't understand why he left us back then, but I do know, and I can't believe he actually gave us a chance to come back around much less except us again. Now do you see why I can't help but hug or touch him whenever I see him? I'm afraid he is going to disappear again, and Kurokocchi is the best at not being found if he doesn't want to be."

Kagami wasn't quite sure how to respond to that, but he had to try, "If you Miracles knew you screwed up, if it were me, I'd be groveling on my knees at his feet. He was the reason you won before you got your special skills. I've heard him say it was Aomine that bloomed first, when to me it was really Kuroko."

"No argument from me," Kise assured, "I know what we had, and I still have nightmare about how we lost him. I'm glad that time is over."

"For what it's worth, I'm glad you came to your senses, for Kuroko's sake. He was working for you, and I never want to hear about any of you hurting him; do you understand?" Kagami wasn't even really sure why he was warning Kise, but it felt right, and he didn't fight his instincts.

"I will never do anything to make Kurokocchi hurt that bad ever again," Kise stated forcibly, and Kagami to his own surprise believed him.


	4. Hot and Cold

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Fe-Fi-Fo-Fum! I hear the sound of a great big Tsun!

Chapter Four

Hot and Cold

The Seirin team was busy practicing in the gym. Everyone was progressing well, Riko privately thought the demonstrations made by the visiting teams was part of the reason her boys were pushing themselves so hard. When playing against someone you don't have time to stop and appreciate their opponent's more subtle skills. You learned more about a person playing with them rather than against them.

The Miracles were good, as to be expected, but the extreme caliber of their talent was something that hadn't hit them until they weren't focusing all their attention on winning. No doubt about it her team could learn something from them, but she did remind herself they had beaten all of them before; some of them more than once. They could hold their heads up when around them, but she had no doubt most of their wins had come down to Kuroko in one way or another, it was either his skill or planning that managed to surpass his old teammates.

Yes, there was a reason the only players that gave the Miracles a real challenge was each other, but now she was sure they had a Miracle of their own. She wasn't talking about Kagami with that, he is another example of Kuroko's brilliance. He had brought out the talent in his Light, by challenging him to grow stronger, and pushing himself harder than the others so he wouldn't let the team down. Seeing what Kuroko was doing had lit a fire in Kagami, a flame only stoked hotter with every match up against a Miracle.

Then again, her boys were a bunch of idiots, she shook her head in resignation as practice devolved into another confrontation between Kuroko and Kagami, their shadow was pursing Kagami with Nigou. Looks like Kagami wasn't completely over his fear of dogs yet, and Kuroko loved to use it against him when his Light irritated him.

Blowing her whistle stopped both boys in their tracks, with them immediately wheeling around to face her. "That's enough," She chastised, then addressed Kuroko, "What did Bakagami do this time?"

"I didn't do anything!" Kagami defended himself before Kuroko could answer.

"That was the problem Kagami-kun, you didn't do anything, and by anything I mean catching that pass. Then you blamed it on me." Kuroko informed their captain emotionlessly, keeping a straight face as usual.

Kagami grumbled, "It was too fast, you didn't give me a chance to get in position."

"If that had been a game our opponent wouldn't have given you any more time than Kuroko did, face it Kagami you just plain missed. There was no reason you couldn't have caught it." Hyuuga gave their ace a dressing down. He had witnessed the entire incident.

"He's right Kagami," Izuki joined in, the barely suppressed laughter in his voice doing nothing but angering Kagami further. "You missed, I saw it, Kuroko did everything right."

"Damn that eagle eye," Kagami thought he had spoken too low to hear, but he was quickly disabused of that notion when Riko yanked on his ear harshly, pulling him down until he was on her level.

"I'm tripling your training menu Bakagami, I might have only doubled it, but since you decided to try pinning the blame on Kuroko-kun you deserve every lap. I suggest you get to it if you want to be done before midnight." She ordered, letting go of his ear so he could obey her command.

Kagami might have had too much pride to admit he'd missed, but he definitely didn't have enough to defy Riko. He raced back onto the court like the hounds of hell were snapping at his heels.

"Thank you Hyuuga-senpai and Izuki-senpai. He needs to learn to admit mistakes, it will help him play better." Kuroko thanked simply, they had backed him up, and it was an admittedly odd feeling for someone to do that without trying to get something out of it.

Hyuuga shrugged, "He was in the wrong. Last thing we need is for his ego to get any bigger because he never fesses up to mistakes and we don't call him on it."

"To be fair he doesn't do it often, we did kind of call him out on the spot, I think we all might be a bit defensive if that happened," Riko mused. "It was still wrong to pass the blame though."

"Kuroko doesn't miss," The sudden interruption of a foreign but familiar voice had them turning towards the door. Shutoku's shooting guard was there with his typical serious expression, though the point guard following him had his hand clamped over his mouth to stifle his chuckles. Midorima came further into the gym as he spoke, "Akashi made sure that if Kuroko was passing the ball it always got to where it was going. At the time passing and stealing were the only things he was really good at so the two of them honed it to perfection."

"Midorima-kun how long have you been there?" Kuroko asked, attempting to change the subject off of him. He had left the days at Teiko behind him, the only thing he wanted to remember were the people; the development of his power wasn't something he wanted to dwell on.

"We've been here since your coach pulled on Kagami's ear," Takao answered for his taller teammate, still laughing a bit at Kagami's misfortune.

"Takao, get a grip on yourself," Midorima ordered the still chuckling Takao.

It took a few moments for Takao to collect himself, "Sorry Shin-chan, but even you have to admit that was funny."

"I don't know what you're talking about," Midorima insisted, clutching the small dragon figurine held in his hand tighter, sometimes his lucky items served well as stress relievers so he didn't get quite so strong an urge to throttle the closest thing to a friend he had after leaving Teiko.

Takao sighed, "You know you are allowed to smile every once and a while, if you keep that disapproving look on your face you'll give yourself wrinkles."

So much for control, Midorima stretched his arm out and bopped Takao on the head. It was hard enough Takao was rubbing the spot and glaring at him for the action.

"What is it with the Miracles having such crazy sidekicks?" Kagami had finally noticed them, stopping his laps around the gym to join the conversation.

All the effort Takao had put into stifling his laughter was wasted at Kagami's question, "Kagami you do realize you just called yourself crazy right? You're Kuroko's sidekick. Oh, and didn't that brother of yours come with Murasakibara?"

"Tch, Tatsuya is crazy I'll give you that, but how in the heck am I his sidekick?" Kagami demanded.

Kuroko was considering using his Ignite Pass in a decidedly non-traditional way when Midorima's voice stopped all thoughts. "What else did you think being a 'light' to him meant? Sounds like a sidekick to me."

Holy mother of basketball, did Midorima just make a joke? Yes, yes he did.

Takao faked a swoon, as all the others gaped at Midorima with varying degrees of obviousness.

Midorima hid his embarrassment by adjusting his glasses, "Must you stare at me like that?"

"Ah, Shin-chan I don't think they have ever heard you joking before. Give them a few minutes to recover from the shock." Takao explained with the widest grin he could produce plastered across his face.

"Midorima-kun has a sense of humor, he just doesn't show it very often," Kuroko informed, taking a little pity on his ex-teammate. He knew Midorima hated too much attention put on him, at least when he was playing basketball the people were focused on the game itself, preferably not him personally.

"Like you're any better," Midorima accused quietly, "I bet you never told them you use them to practice your misdirection on because you find it amusing to see people jump when they do notice you."

This made Kagami laugh, "I always thought that was what you were doing Kuroko. Too many times you scared us only to disappear again. Oh wait, if Midorima knows about it, does that mean you did it to the Miracles too?" He realized.

Kuroko was shaking his head, ready to deny it, when Midorima beat him to answering, "Of course he did. The only one he never caught off guard was Akashi, even Aomine fell for it every once and awhile."

"How many times did he get you Shin-chan?" Takao was finding this field trip more amusing every second. He never let an opportunity to needle his teammate slip away. He often felt it was the only thing keeping Midorima's ego in check, well that and the threat of a pineapple being thrown at his head.

Another blush covered up by Midorima adjusting his glasses, too bad Kuroko had enough of Midorima revealing his secrets, time for some payback. "Every time I tried it." Kuroko almost sounded proud of himself, a distinct change from his usual stoniness. "I always caught him off guard. Akashi instructed me to focus on passing to Aomine-kun and Kise-kun if Aomine wasn't available. Midorima got the ball from either Akashi-kun himself, or when Murasakibara-kun passed it to him. The closer I work with someone, the harder it is to sneak up on them."

Midorima sighed, "He's right. Though it wasn't really my fault he could get to me so easily, Akashi was the one who set up our games like that. Plus he only played himself when Kuroko was subbed out, so most of the time my only means of getting the ball was to steal it or be open for Murasakibara to get it to me. The very rare times Kuroko passed to me was because all the others were being marked too tightly."

"You guys really didn't play as a team," Hyuuga noted, shaking his head. "If you focus on just the individual skills you won't get the benefits of combining your talents to make the both of you stronger. Correct me if I'm wrong Kuroko, but isn't that the principle behind the Light and Shadow dynamic you use?"

"Yes, you have it right senpai." Kuroko assured. "I can't amplify something that isn't there at all, and if my partner isn't good enough to catch my passes or follow my movements then there is no point working together. On my side I have to be tough enough to get the ball where it is needed, and that means understanding what is happening at all points on the court at all times. We both have to be strong for my method to work." He explained completely for the first time what it meant for him to be a Shadow and his partner the Light.

"The stronger the Light the deeper the Shadow," Midorima added, "That was how Aomine explained it. I'm slightly ashamed of the fact the only true team on our side was between him and Kuroko. Kise wanted that kind of partnership, but he came into the regulars too late, the bond between Kuroko and Aomine was too strong for him to enter it with them."

"Aomine could bring out the full potential of Kuroko's talent because he was the one tough enough to handle what that meant," To the other's surprise that was Kagami. "That's the way I look at it, and you guys are always harping on me about being like Aomine. He would probably think the same way." Kagami admitted the connection between himself and Aomine grudgingly, but he insisted to himself that the only time he agreed at all with what that arrogant ass was saying is when he was talking about Kuroko.

Shaking herself out of the shock, Riko responded first, "That's actually surprisingly insightful for you Bakagami."

"I'm not a complete idiot you know," Kagami defended himself, getting irritated that his team occasionally equated his impulsiveness with stupidity. They were two very different things, he wasn't stupid, he just lost control of himself sometimes.

"As much fun as teasing Kagami is, don't you think we should be playing some basketball?" Hyuuga had let the fun go as long as they could afford to, it wasn't often he saw everyone as relaxed and playful as they were now; even Midorima wasn't quite as tense as he usually was.

"You're right Junpei," Riko agreed, "But Midorima-kun, the others both played together with Kuroko at the start and split up later, do you want to do the same?"

Midorima debated with himself for a few moments, "I'm not sure how much you would get out of me working with him, but it couldn't hurt either. I'll let Kuroko decide if he wants to or not." He eventually passed control over to his former teammate.

Now it was Kuroko's turn to debate, but he didn't take as long to make up his mind, "I would like to work with you again Midorima-kun, we didn't get to much at Teiko but I respect your style and would like to show the others what you can do. You haven't shown your new team everything yet."

"Wait, Shin-chan has been holding out on us?" Takao demanded in a fit of disbelief, why would Midorima hold back if his team was losing?

"Not exactly," Kuroko backtracked, regrouping, "It's not that he hasn't shown what he can do as a shooting guard, it's the fact he was the most versatile player on the court. Akashi-kun reminded everyone at the meeting all of the other Miracles besides me could play every position, what he didn't say was Midorima-kun was the best at it."

"Really Shin-chan?" Takao asked with hope and awe. His playful attitude momentarily pushed aside.

A put upon sigh, "Is it really that surprising? We weren't called Miracles just because we can play a single position well. Individual talents made us famous, but our ability to think like the players in other positions made sure we were in the right place at the right time, that was the real key to us winning so much."

"Hmm, I can understand that," Kiyoshi mused, "I play center now, but I actually prefer point guard. Knowing both positions helps me now to predict how the game is going to go and find the best way to deal with a pass or shoot situation."

Shifting the focus off of himself, Midorima outed Kuroko, "He might not have been able to physically play in other positions, but Kuroko did understand them. How else do you think he knew where everyone was on the court and where they would move to? I might be better at playing, but no one can beat him in strategy."

"If he can get passed me, I believe it," Takao noted. "I'm only useful as a point guard, but what I can do I push myself to the limit using."

"Can we drop this please?" Kuroko broke down and asked, he didn't typically like showing what topics were his weak points, but they had hit one too many of his secrets for a single conversation.

"Yes Kuroko-kun, we should have gotten players out onto the court already," Riko saved her kouhai from further revelations. "Okay, for Aomine-kun we had equal sides, and for Kise-kun we had three on five weighted towards his side. How did you think we should split up now?" She directed the question to the two Miracles in the group.

"Three on three would be fine," Midorima answered, "As long as Takao isn't put on our side." He cautioned, if that particular trio played together he doubted any three player combination possible among those present could match them.

"Fine, how about you and Kuroko-kun with Mitobe-kun, and then Hyuuga-kun, Kagami-kun, and Izuki-kun against you?" Riko suggested.

Kuroko was the one to nod, "That will make a good game." He analyzed.

With that decided the named players took their places on the court, with the rest relaxing back on the bench to watch, though Takao chose to sit on the floor with both arms splayed out on the bench behind him. "This is gonna be good," He declared happily.

"You recovered fast from your shock," Kiyoshi noticed, he was the one sitting closest to Takao, Koganei on the other side.

Takao chuckled, "I'm no longer too surprised at what Shin-chan can do, I was just upset he might have held back something that could have helped the team. It took me a second to release he never really held it back, he just didn't tell us that's what he was doing."

"That's understandable," Kiyoshi responded thoughtfully, "Sometimes a talented player has difficulties telling someone else about their abilities, either because they are protecting their teammates from potential jealousy, or they just might not be very good at describing their unusual skill." He explained, there had been a few of the Uncrowned Kings with the same problem. He had kept in touch with them all for various reasons, they had been brought together in the face of playing the Generation of Miracles. Common ground was a great motivator to pick up allies.

They all had a distaste for Hanamiya's approach though, that they could also agree on, but you really couldn't argue with his results even if you had major issues with how he went about it.

Kiyoshi was brought out of his musings by Takao's laughter, "That does sound like Shin-chan. He has issues identifying with our team, but he does train hard to help us win, we owe him a lot. That he would go to the lengths he has to not alienate himself even further from us suggests he actually does care about us."

"And it's his style that he not say anything about it," Koganei interrupted, "We have all seen how he acts when we play him. It isn't hard to figure out how he would deal with something like that."

"He's a true Tsundere," Takao agreed, "He does care about people, but showing it is difficult for him."

"I've got to ask, you told us at the restaurant we all accidently met up in that you had lost track of your team because Midorima was crying. Did he really end up crying when we beat him the first time?" Riko asked curiously, she had been monitoring the practice match and their conversation at the same time.

And the game was worth watching, it had taken longer for Kuroko and Midorima to get in sync than Kise or Aomine, but once they did both of their skills were brought out. By having only three people on their side, Midorima was put in the position of being power forward, shooting guard, and a bit of a point guard. Mitobe took center, the rest of point guard, and occasionally small forward if Kuroko dropped out of that spot to work independently when their side was pressed too hard.

Midorima was forced to think quickly when coordinating with Mitobe, the quiet senior's lack of speaking made them communicate in a combination of body language and Midorima's directions. It might not have worked at all if Kuroko wasn't able to point out Mitobe's skills to Midorima through his various passes. Once they had the kinks worked out on their side, Midorima and Mitobe were able to get passes through to each other when Kuroko stole the ball and put it into position only to have his pass target covered too tightly to shoot. Kagami was still in prime shape to block Midorima's three pointers, their only hope to win was out thinking their opponent to get the ball through quicker than Kagami could keep up. It was a real challenge on both sides. Kagami was both fast, and instinctually intelligent when it came to reading basketball plays. Kuroko's extreme skill with that forcing him to increase his own talents so he could receive his Shadow's passes even if they were outside the usual plays Seirin did.

She had spoken to Takao right after a particularly fast pass from Kuroko and a good block on Midorima's part allowed Mitobe to score with a hook shot without Kagami pressuring him, getting around Hyuuga's defense with the difficult shot to both make and defend against. Kiyoshi whistled to himself in appreciation of Mitobe's skill. As a center himself he knew how hard that shot was to make.

Even Kiyoshi's focus was taken off the court though when Takao answered Riko's question, "Yeah he did, I think it was because he had the rain to mask it. I could tell he was crying though, his eyes were red. Oh and I just remembered Kise did the same thing after losing to you in your practice match. The Miracles really can't stand losing, I think they are slightly better at handling loses now, but back when they were defeated the first time it was nearly impossible for them to handle."

"Knowing that almost makes me feel bad for them," Koganei admitted, "Almost. It's hard to feel bad for someone who's reason for breaking down was they hadn't lost in so long they forgot how to deal with it."

"I can feel bad for them," Kiyoshi disagreed, "I played them when we were still in middle school, they were already losing their passion for the game. All of their passion was already focusing on winning rather than enjoying the game they were playing."

"Do you remember Kuroko from back then?" Furihata asked, curious about his fellow first year. The other two first years were interest too, but it was hard to talk to Kuroko when he was so busy practicing with the other starters.

"Not really," Kiyoshi admitted, "You've seen him play. Trying to spot him when you haven't worked with him before is extremely difficult. I did see the effects of his passes though. He really did compliment the others well, especially Aomine. With Kuroko's passes coming out of nowhere, and Aomine's ability to make shots from just about any position on the court without a form was a very deadly combination."

They could believe it too, even with Midorima as a partner, Kuroko and him were expertly coordinated. Years of being on the same court showing itself in their form. Quick back and forth passes had both Midorima and Mitobe making shots. The other side was by no means not getting them back for most of them, but they were still in the lead by a good ten points.

"Yeah they were good," Takao agreed with what Kiyoshi had observed. "But Shin-chan will always be my favorite Miracle. I wouldn't trade him even knowing how quirky his habits are. I actually like his lucky item thing, I find it kind of cute a guy as big and talented as him carries around such crazy things. The other day the lucky item was a china doll with a pink dress." Takao was having trouble keeping his laughter under control at remembering the doll with all its lace and frills.

It wasn't all that difficult to be amused by the thought of the player who had just had his latest shot blocked by Kagami, luckily for their side Mitobe got the rebound and managed to make a basket before anyone could cover him. Izuki darted in to retrieve the falling ball, racing back to the other side of the court, Midorima running to pressure him into passing the ball to Kagami who used one of his super powered jumps to dunk the ball into the hoop.

Still laughing at the image of Midorima carrying around a pink frilly doll Koganei managed to speak between guffaws, "Well at least for his sake it's a dragon today, I don't think any of us could resist teasing him if it was something like that doll." He was trying to stop laughing, he really was, but it wasn't working too well.

"What I'm curious about is where he got the doll," Kiyoshi was stifling his own laughter but he was fairing much better with it than Koganei.

Takao had settled down to the occasional chuckle, "He borrowed it from his little sister, but there is an antique store where every teller knows his name, and not all of them watch basketball."

"Can I ask a question about him?" Furihata requested, in awe of the shooting guard's talent showing itself in the practice match. He was giving Kagami and Hyuuga a work out in trying to stop him while making their own shots, the real saving grace for Kagami's side was Izuki's eagle eye. With his talent he could predict a good portion of the opposition's movements, it was just a matter of getting to the right place to counteract them.

"Sure but I might not be able to answer if I want to keep breathing," Takao agreed with his eyes sparkling in amusement. He did enjoy pushing Midorima's buttons, his reactions were worth the risk.

"Why does he tape his fingers?" He had watched Midorima hastily unwrap them before he started playing. The move attracting Furihata's curiosity about the odd movement.

"Look at your hands," Takao ordered, all the listeners obeying not just Furihata. "What do you see?"

They all knew better than to just say hands, but Kiyoshi figured out where Takao was going with the order first, "Calluses. A basketball is rough, and it toughens our hands."

"Right," Takao approved. "Shin-chan tapes his hands all day, and when he practices, so his hands stay soft. It lets him feel the ball better making his shots more accurate. He practices with them taped to give him more of a challenge, if he can make the shots with his sense of touch hindered, he will be even more impressive during a game."

"I never thought of that, but it would work. Maybe we should try that for ourselves in practice. It would be a bit like the training camp where I used playing basketball in the sand to help you improve your movements." Riko analyzed. She could see the benefits of making them improve accuracy by taking away the feel of the ball. Takao was right, if you could make a play with your hands taped, you would be more accurate when you took the tape off.

She watched the game carefully to analyze Midorima's next super long shot, and now that she knew what to look for it wasn't hard to see Takao was right. He was releasing the ball at just the right time and angle to ensure it went in. That kind of reliability could only be achieved by someone who knew exactly how to adjust the ball to complete the shot. Having soft fingers that could truly feel how the ball was positioned would go a long way in helping Midorima do those crazily accurate long shots.

"There is one problem with Shin-chan's method." Takao warned, he was conscious of the fact Seirin could easily push themselves too far with trying out Midorima's method. "If the ball is rough enough to put calluses on your hands, imagine how it must feel to a person with no calluses at all?" He urged. "Shin-chan's finger tips have been worn down so badly he's bled from them at the slightest pressure after games. That kind of pain would be a detriment to a power forward or point guard where much more dribbling is required. I doubt their fingers would hold up till the end of the game like Shin-chan's usually do."

"That's dedication right there," Koganei realized, not alone in having a bit more respect for Midorima at the information.

"Of course," Takao scoffed, "He's extremely dedicated. All of Shutoku is aware of it, that's why we allow him his three selfish acts a day. He kind of earns them, even if when he goes a bit too far with his requests he is threatened with having a pineapple thrown at his head."

"A pineapple?" Riko asked in disbelief.

"Yep a pineapple," Takao repeated, dispelling her disbelief. "The father of one of our players owns a fruit stand. The rest always use that particular threat on him just because it's hard to tell if they are joking or not."

Looking back to the game Riko shook her head in resignation, "Are we really the only sane team with a Miracle on it?" Kuroko confirming his place in the Miracle's once again with another expertly executed steal from Izuki, redirecting it to Midorima who sank a three pointer before Kagami could stop him. This time Hyuuga got the rebound, him and Izuki running quickly down the court, the ball ending up with the point guard when in range of the basket, Izuki was able to make the shot. Midorima managing to grab the rebound away from Kagami who hadn't gotten to the hoop quit soon enough to jump higher than the taller shooting guard. The three came without Midorima moving, Mitobe standing under the net to capture the ball as it fell.

"Ah Riko, look around you, do you really think we are sane?" Kiyoshi pointed out, thinking of all the eccentric people on the team fondly.

Riko didn't have an answer to that, so she stayed silent. Kiyoshi chuckling at her stubbornness but otherwise didn't comment on it, but he did notice something about the game, "Hey Riko I think we need to call the match good enough, Kuroko is looking worn out." He advised.

Riko knew he was right, blowing her whistle to end the game, the final total 87 to 79 with Kuroko's side winning. Looking at Kuroko's sweat drenched body and gasping breaths she realized their shadow had pushed himself too hard again, and hadn't let her know. "Kuroko-kun do I have to keep telling you to let us know when you've been playing too much? How many times will you have to pass out on us before you realize we don't mind regrouping practice if it means you won't hurt yourself? I try to catch you at it, but it can be hard when you hide things from us." His misdirection definitely caused her no amount of stress when he used it to keep them from knowing he was nearing his limit. By the time they saw through the ruse it was already too late to keep him from overly straining himself.

Kuroko wouldn't answer her, refusing to argue knowing it would only give her more ammo to use against him. Midorima didn't have the same problem, "He won't listen to you." He warned. "Even Akashi had trouble with that trait of his in Teiko. Yes he could see through Kuroko's misdirection, but Kuroko was good at hiding why he was using it at that time from him and Aomine."

All eyes turned to Kuroko, seeing the tips of the shadow's ears had turned a little pink. Kagami spotted and couldn't stop the incredulous question, "Are you blushing Kuroko?"

"You're seeing things again Kagami-kun, maybe you should see someone about that," Kuroko replied perfectly calmly. If he was serious enough maybe he could keep everyone from believing Kagami.

This was not his lucky day, "You so totally are blushing, and you try to hide it just like Shin-chan." Takao earned himself a glare from the phantom player, to which he replied with a grin.

Seeing Kuroko's irritation when others might have missed it Midorima gave some advice, "If you want him to stop, get him on the court and put him through his paces. That's how our coach deals with him."

"That was mean Shin-chan, they don't have to do that as often to me as they feel the urge to threaten you with flying produce." Takao shot back, he wouldn't let Midorima get away with his comment without doing something to tease his friend right back.

"Are you saying you don't want to play?" Midorima responded, voice challenging as he did his best to ignore what Takao said about him.

Takao hid a laugh at Midorima's attempt at deflection, but he let it go knowing he was pushing the limit of Midorima's control before he got physical in his reprimands. "I never said I wouldn't play," He reminded, "I just meant that no one has to make me."

Midorima could do nothing but shake his head at his teammate's antics.

"Well if everyone is ready to hit the court again, let's change up the teams a bit," Riko decided. "Takao-kun, I'm putting you in, how about you play with Midorima-kun and Koganei-kun. Kagami you're up again, let's try it with Furihata-kun and Teppei."

The assigned players went out on the court with a nod of assent. Riko looked at the puddle o' player Hyuuga, Izuki, and Mitobe had collapsed into when they had the chance. The bench feeling like a cloud to them as they were finally able to rest. Kuroko had already fallen asleep hidden behind the bench with his jacket under his head and Nigou curled up against him after the black and white puppy had nudged him a few times in worry.

Once she knew all of her boys would survive after the first game, she turned back to the ones out on the court, starting the game with a blast of her whistle.

The game progressed rapidly, the substitution of the four new players was changing the entire dynamic of the game. Kagami's side had better defense with Kiyoshi in it, and Furihata turned out to be pretty good at understand the plays he wanted to try. The frequency of stopping Midorima's shots increased, especially since the tall shooting guard was pretty much the only one on his side with a prayer of competing with Kiyoshi in the center position, the splitting of his focus made the contribution of Takao a necessity, their familiarity with each other a large advantage to the others who would have to take time getting used to Midorima's style.

This game Kagami's side finished in the lead, with a bit wider gap between them than the first match, ending up with 78-64. Kiyoshi's defense, and Takao's planning showing in the score. Without Takao and Midorima working so well together they wouldn't have managed as many points as they had. Koganei was able to help sometimes, but he had missed a couple shots during the game, making him a little unreliable as it came down to the wire. On Kagami's side Furihata proved he was capable of keeping up and his talent at knowing how the plays would work out had increased with necessity. He had the makings of a good point guard, Izuki promising to work with him more once the teams were back on the bench, even Takao gave him a pat on the back for his good work.

All in all it had been a good day of training. Riko setting the players that hadn't gotten court time out into the gym, where the starters and the visiting Shutoku players worked with them while they were still motivated from watching the exciting games. This plan of training together with the Miracles was already seeing results and that made Riko insanely happy while watching her boys interact and grow together as one.


	5. Remember Everything

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Daydreaming doesn't end so well for tigers.

Chapter Five

Remember Everything

Kagami was admittedly feeling a bit skittish, which was unusual for him, but you would be too if you were expecting family to show up but didn't know when. You see it had been awhile since Tatsuya and himself could interact like they had back in America. To say the others may be a tad surprised about how they really acted towards each other under normal circumstances was an understatement.

So why was it that he was feeling skittish despite knowing what would probably happen? It was caused by the massively tall Miracle that seemed to always be with Tatsuya. He had no idea how that would change the dynamic between him and his brother. What if Murasakibara's childish mind rubbed off on Tatsuya to make him even more sadistic in torturing his brother? He could pull off the worst pranks on Kagami and get away with it because no one would believe the stoic teen was capable of such underhandedness.

Kagami knew the truth though, and he winced a bit at his thoughts. Some of his previous pranks had been rather spectacular, he could only imagine with horror what Tatsuya could come up with next.

He was pulled out of his thoughts abruptly when he was hit squarely on the side of his head with a basketball, instinctually throwing an arm out to grab it before it could drop to the ground. He had it successfully contained and then looked over to the guilty party, one who didn't look a bit regretful at all at his actions, maybe even a little smug. After all Kagami had become fairly good at reading his Shadow's slight tells that gave away his emotions usually locked down with iron control. "What the hell was that for Kuroko?!" He demanded, while making a shot with the ball he had just caught. The others attempted to hide their shock at him still making a basket despite yelling at his Shadow.

"You were the only one open to receive the pass, it is not my fault Kagami-kun wasn't paying attention." Kuroko was not the only one who felt deja-vu hearing their conversation. Seems the power forward was lost in thought a lot lately, when usually his entire focus was on either basketball or food. Good in some ways, not so good in others.

Remembering the tripled training that his muscles still ached a little from, Kagami knew not to argue, "Yeah, sorry about that Kuroko. It's just, Tatsuya called me the other day, he wants to come and train with us as soon as he can convince Murasakibara. Not really looking forward to it." He fessed up, rubbing the back of his neck in a nervous tic.

The practice game paused with Kagami's confession, bringing a mix of reactions with it, Kiyoshi's winning out to be the first heard. "Hasn't it been awhile since you've spent time with him outside of a tournament game? I thought you told us you'd managed to patch things up with each other?" His voice was full of concern, worried stubborn pride may have gotten in the way again and wrenched them apart once more.

"Ah yeah, we did get things sorted out, but that's kinda the problem," Kagami knew he wasn't explaining clearly, but really would you want to admit in a room full of teammates, who you still had to survive the remaining years they had to play together, that your brother used to get you into some of the most humiliating moments of your life just for his own amusement?

"Go on, what are you talking about? Why would making up cause you more trouble than when you were fighting?" Okay Kiyoshi was now more confused than worried.

When Kagami's neck flamed red in embarrassment they knew he would have a good story to tell. "Tatsuya is more dangerous when he isn't mad at you. He's far more straightforward in his revenge. I don't know how many basketballers he destroyed on the court when they upset him. It's when he likes you that things can go wrong. Think Kise, without the warning you get from being hyperactive. He never seems to get in trouble for the things he pulls, no one believes he could do something like that with the way he doesn't show emotion most of the time."

Izuki was honestly trying to repress his chuckles but it wasn't quite working, "What did he do to you?" Yep, there was a good story to be had out of Kagami's embarrassment.

"What hasn't he done is the better question," Kagami admitted. "Everything from provoking streetball teams to three on one matches but when he settled terms with them I became the one. He's hid dirty magazines in my room for my parents to find. Then there was the time he put a note in my locker every day for two months claiming to be a secret admirer. He's good enough at switching his hand writing to something he's seen before to make you think he can mimic like Kise does. The worst one was one of our teachers turned forty that year, and he sent a bouquet of black roses to her; with my name on the tag. I was in detention for the rest of the year, and that happened in March."

"American schools end the year in May or June right?" Kiyoshi thought he remembered that much from his classes, but it got confusing after a while.

"Yeah, it switches around a bit, but that year we got out in early June." He would never forget that, having been counting down the seconds until he was free of those detentions.

"I don't know about everyone else, but I for one want to meet this person," Kiyoshi teased, only to laugh harder at the glare sent his way from the steaming red-head.

That's it Kagami was definitely not looking forward to this as much as he did miss Tatsuya. Seeing his brother wasn't the issue, it was being around everyone else when they got together that was. He knew the team would love nothing more than to help him with his schemes just to see their ace squirm.

What Kagami hadn't seen in his embarrassment of the situation since he was avoiding looking at any of the team members directly was Kuroko discreetly pulling out his cellphone. The shadow quickly typed out a message and sent it to a number he hadn't used in quite some time, but it seemed appropriate now.

The response came quickly, 'I'll tell him Kurochin. Don't forget my snacks.' Kuroko couldn't stop the chuckle that bubbled up at Murasakibara's predictableness.

"Riko, I think we need to call the nurse," Hyuuga advised, the comment appearing to come out of the blue to everyone else.

"Pull a muscle again?" Riko asked shaking her head at his stubbornness and timing.

Hyuuga had a grave look on his face, "No it's worse than that. I think Kuroko is sick."

"What makes you say that Captain?" Kuroko's deadpan expression was back and he sounded genuinely confused.

"You must have a fever or something," He insisted. "I don't think I have ever heard you laugh."

Kuroko blinked quickly a few times as he attempted to absorb Hyuuga's comment, "You make it seem like I am some kind of robot."

Hyuuga just gave him a look, "Really? Kuroko, do you even remember the last time you laughed in front of people?"

When Kuroko didn't respond, Hyuuga commented victoriously, "I thought so. You know, you really should do it more often."

"Yeah or you will start sounding like Midorima," Kagami was happy to have the distraction to help divert the scrutiny he had just endured.

"I beg to differ, he actually made a joke while he was here." Izuki refuted. "That had to almost hurt when it comes to him."

Kuroko cocked his head, "Midorima-kun only jokes when he feels comfortable. He hates attention in general, but it's even worse if he doesn't know the people he is around are going to tease him or not. In other words that he made any attempt at humor at all means he is at least willing to trust you. Don't make him regret it by making a big deal out of it."

"Wow, he's really that sensitive?" Kiyoshi wasn't completely shocked, he'd suspected something similar, but for it to be a big enough problem for Kuroko to defend him from harmless conversation meant he had underestimated just how badly Midorima handled close scrutiny.

Kuroko shrugged, "Is it really that surprising? Midorima-kun loves basketball, and he happens to be very good at it, but that doesn't mean he is comfortable with photographers and reporters constantly harassing him. He was probably the most grateful that the attention on the Miracles lessened a bit when we split off into different teams."

"Tatsuya hates getting his picture taken, sounds a bit like what you're saying about Midorima." Kagami mused. "He wears his hair the way he does so he can avoid acknowledging the worst of the attention. He can fool himself into thinking it isn't happening if he can't see it. After I got over the shock of him being back in Japan I was able to wonder why he picked such a high profile team to join, unless he was like me and didn't know about the Generation of Miracles making him going to Yosen a random decision."

"I don't know, it looked to me like he was doing it so he was guaranteed to play you." Kiyoshi suggested. "He trusted enough in your skill that any team you ended up on would get to the finals and play Yosen. I remember that first meeting between you two, he wanted to play you just as badly as you wanted to avoid it. Kuroko was the one to knock some sense into you."

Kagami paused, considering the validity of Kiyoshi's theory, "I guess that's possible, but why Yosen? If he wanted to make sure we played against each other why not a team in our region?"

It was Kuroko who figured it out first, "He was probably waiting for the Winter Cup. He didn't just want to play you, he wanted it to be when your skills were about equal. If one of you, or both, didn't manage to get to the national level than you wouldn't have to play each other to know which one was better. I have a suspicion had we not made it to compete there, he probably would have tracked you down afterwards to work things out another way. He did miss you or he wouldn't have followed you back here." He was going off his own experience with the other Miracles. He didn't run so they would never play each other again, he left so he could find a team strong enough to beat them when they did meet once more. Himuro was probably thinking along the same lines when waiting for Kagami to reach an equal level again.

"You know, that does kind of sound like Tatsuya. He didn't make the ultimatum of playing each other for the rings until we had an even number of wins. He had to have known staying to work with Alex until she was done with him would make him better than me, even if I did find a team like Seirin. I don't say that because I doubt our strength, it's because I know how good Alex is. I think he knew how good we were going to get as soon as he got back to Japan and heard the rumors going around about the inter-high. That's probably when he chose Yosen." Kagami mused.

"Yep the more I hear the more I'd like to meet him not on opposite ends of a basketball court," Kiyoshi reaffirmed with a grin. "Sounds like someone worth knowing."

"Oh he is a great guy, but that doesn't mean he won't play tricks on me. It's just part of who he is." Their power forward explained, his brother wasn't all bad or he wouldn't have cared so much about Tatsuya's challenge. There was just times his sense of humor got the best of him.

Practice continued normally for the rest of the evening, Kagami getting his head back into practice thanks to the knock to the skull, and soon Kuroko and him were leaving to have a late dinner at their usual haunt.

Between sips of his favorite vanilla shake Kuroko broached the subject brought up during practice, "Is it really that bad between you and Himuro-kun?"

Kagami shrugged, "Yes and no, while he does pull things on me, it isn't constant just when he gets the urge or wants to teach me something, I think what's got me so worked up is I don't know how Murasakibara is going to change things. I only really know him from on the court, it's not like with Kise, Aomine, or even Midorima. At least with those three I would have a better guess, but from him I just don't know." He admitted.

A few moments passed in silence, the shadow merely observing his light absentmindedly demolishing the pile of burgers in front of him while lost in thoughts of his brother, until finally Kuroko decided he'd waited enough. "Do you want to know more about Murasakibara-kun?" He offered, maybe it would get his light's head back in the game and not so worried about what would happen next he misses passes he should have caught.

Kagami swallowed the bite in his mouth before replying, "What could you tell me?"

"He has a sense of humor, not as forward as Kise-kun, but more obvious than Midorima-kun. I think people underestimate him a bit, he acts very childish, but you've seen him when he gets serious during a game. That side of him doesn't just appear out of thin air. Personally I always thought he acts the way he does because he can't be bothered with anything more. His one major flaw is that his natural talent means he doesn't have to work as hard to beat other teams, he never really has to exert himself and he prefers it that way. He is actually pretty lazy. Akashi-kun had to bribe him to practice, more than he did with Aomine-kun even at the end when everyone had gotten so good." Kuroko explained, speaking more than he usually did, but this was a topic he was interested in. He was very much enjoying how his new team was blending with his old one. He would not allow his own silence to get in the way of that.

"So you're saying he's smarter than he looks? That's just great, Tatsuya will definitely use that to his advantage. There is no way they could work so well together on the court without knowing those kinds of things about each other." Kagami realized with a sinking heart.

Kuroko nodded, "Sounds right. Though you might be saved a bit if he decides whatever Himuro-kun has planned is too much effort."

"Nah, that isn't going to happen," There was optimism, and then there was lying to yourself, "Tatsuya wouldn't ask him to do something he knows Murasakibara absolutely won't do. He pulls off his tricks by knowing how to get to people and that works both ways. If he wants help badly enough he'll find a way to get it, and you already said Murasakibara can be bribed. That probably hasn't changed even if it isn't Akashi doing it."

"I think I saw him do it at the Winter Cup game, Murasakibara-kun would have subbed himself out if it wasn't for whatever Himuro-kun told him." Kuroko noted.

"Yeah, and throwing that punch didn't hurt," Kagami reminded with a short chuckle, "We've done that to each other before. It does work to get us motivated again. I know Tatsuya's braver than me though, punching Murasakibara has to be like hitting a brick wall."

"Oh it is," Kuroko agreed, "I've wanted to. He drove off several players in Teiko that had potential, but had to work for what they could do rather than having his natural talent. He tried to do it to me too, once, but I came back."

Kagami had a feeling there was more to the story there, "What did you do to him? I've seen you mad, you're merciless." It was both amazing and terrifying to watch what happened when Kuroko got angry.

Kuroko's trademark deadpan answered him, "I hit him with an Ignite pass twice over it, Akashi stopped me after that though, Murasakibara-kun was a starter in every game while the rest of us were switched around a bit depending on what kind of team we were facing. It wouldn't be good if he was benched, with him under the net the rest of us could work on scoring without worrying about defending as much."

"Wait, I thought all the Miracles could catch your Ignite pass?" Kagami asked with a raised eyebrow, impressed but surprised at the oddity.

"They can, if I aim at their hands," Kuroko responded shortly.

Now Kagami was even more intrigued, "So where else did you aim? Murasakibara has such huge arms he can't have left much of an opening."

"What did Midorima-kun tell you the other day?" Thanks to the Shutoku player's words, Kuroko couldn't hide behind a bluff, so might as well own it.

"You don't miss." Easy enough to remember when it was something Kagami had already known.

Kuroko didn't meet Kagami's eyes, looking down at his nearly empty cup, "Right. So if I don't miss, and they catch it when I aim at their hands, what do you think happens if I aim a little lower, by about the length of the ball?"

"They won't see the difference in the rush of a game and will assume it will land where it always does and they're going to get hit, probably in the ribcage, either on the side or in front, or possibly in the stomach depending on how they are standing when they try to catch it." Kagami could understand that simply because he wasn't too proud to admit he would do the same thing. He trusted Kuroko's passes above anything else in a game, and if it fell in a place that wasn't normal for them he would be caught off guard. Like the recent times he'd been hit in the head or shoulder by the ball when Kuroko was irritated with his daydreaming during practice.

"Aomine could stop it, and you probably could if you had to, when I play outside of our formations and you still catch the ball it is mostly by instinct." Kuroko unknowingly contradicted Kagami's line of thought. Not seeing a change in pass course when already distracted was different than missing a catch when you are fully paying attention.

"You have a point," Kagami realized. "Didn't think of that."

Kuroko hid a smile with his straw, "You don't think when you play, you react, I'm not surprised you didn't recognize what you were doing when all that mattered was that you could do it."

"Let me guess something else I have in common with Aomine?" His shadow sounded like he always did when he was remembering old times while talking about new ones.

"While it would fit, I was actually thinking about Kise-kun." Kuroko corrected. "Think about it; what do you think the copy ability really is? It's watching and reacting to what he sees, if he took time to think about what he was doing he would risk getting in his own way. You watched his game against Aomine-kun, the reason he couldn't copy him before that was because he didn't think he could. Kise-kun has to believe he can, or he won't learn."

"That's why he's hurt himself isn't it?" Kagami realized, "He doesn't see the danger in doing something, because all he is looking for is technique and the risks get shoved to the side."

"Yes," Kuroko confirmed. "Though even if he did see the risks I doubt he would back down, he's just as hot-blooded as Aomine-kun and you. All of you push your limits in tough matches. I can remember at least one time for each of you that you had to recover from injuries gotten from playing."

"Doesn't that apply to you and the other Miracles though? You do have similar mindsets when it comes to winning." Kuroko might not be as obvious as the others, but there was no denying that he absolutely hated losing. Seirin was just lucky his idea of achieving victory revolved around team play.

"Sometimes," Kuroko acknowledged, "But the three of you are worse," He amended.

"I'm not so sure about that," Kagami mumbled.

"What was that?" Kuroko challenged.

His red eyes narrowed, "I don't know as much about the other two, but I do know you. You've pushed yourself too far in almost every game we played in the Inter-High and Winter-Cup, and it was even more so if we were playing one of the other Miracles."

Kuroko didn't respond, Kagami taking that as confirmation.

"We got a little off track though," Kagami realized, "You were telling me more about what to expect from Murasakibara, is there anything else I should know?"

Kuroko waited to respond until he had finished up the last of his shake, "Not really, he isn't that complicated. He might be more intelligent than he lets people see, but it isn't out of the desire to surprise people. He will help Himuro-kun with his plots, but he won't add to them all that much. Anything the two of them do will be Himuro-kun's plan, you should be used to that for the most part."

Kagami sighed, "I really do want to see Tatsuya again, so I guess I can put up with it. Hopefully he will get it out of his system quickly."

"Distract him with basketball," Kuroko advised, "That would work for the rest of us, and it would probably work on him too."

"Good idea, but I think practicing with them is going to be different than the other teams. I think it would work better if you worked against Murasakibara instead of with like you did with the other three when they showed up. You need to practice working with Tatsuya, it's me that needs to figure out how to play with Murasakibara."

"About that, there is one thing you might be interested to know about playing with Murasakibara-kun," There was a glimmer of mischievousness in the shadow's eyes at that, putting Kagami on edge.

"What about him?" He asked warily.

"Akashi-kun was the only one of us to force his special talent to bloom, and it was because he was losing to Murasakibara-kun. He came the closest to winning a one-on-one with Akashi-kun. The two of us beat both of them because we worked together with our team." All of the Miracles were their own kind of monster, but Murasakibara was arguably the worst of them. Akashi trained hard to achieve his dominating level of skill, Murasakibara did work at it and it was impressive to most other players, but his training regime was still less than any of the other Miracles. If he practiced as much as the others in the Generation of Miracles did he would truly be unstoppable.

Kuroko was adjusting his thoughts to include himself, he pushed himself as far as his body would allow, and he knew for a fact Murasakibara didn't. It wasn't total hours he was using for comparison, it was amount of effort.

Kagami went quiet again, during which they left the restaurant since they had finished eating. Once out in the cool night air he eventually spoke, "I don't really know what to make of that. After playing both of them it's hard to tell which one I'd like to face again the least. With the way we have the teams set up this time, I will have to play both you and Akashi, but knowing that we have that kind of firepower on our side is making me think we could win against your ex-captain."

"You would have to motivate Murasakibara-kun though," Kuroko reminded, "That isn't easy. It took us almost a whole game to irritate him enough to go on offense, and Kiyoshi-senpai was actively trying to provoke him so he could get shots through."

"You already said he almost beat Akashi one-on-one, maybe facing him again will be enough to get Murasakibara out from under the net." Kagami guessed.

This made Kuroko a little curious what would happen if that was the case, and just so the game would be good, he suggested, "If that does happen, use Midorima-kun as center in his place."

"You want to give my side three aces potentially, and use Midorima's height as center since his long shots wouldn't be as useful?" Say what you would about Kagami's intelligence, you couldn't deny he knew his basketball.

"Yes," Kuroko responded simply.

"You have that much faith in Akashi?" Kagami asked skeptically, that was a lot of offensive power against a side with no dedicated center.

"Not just Akashi-kun," Kuroko objected. "He's probably going to be the best on our side, but he doesn't play in the power forward position, even he has to compensate for his height and that is simply not possible when competing with other aces that are almost a foot taller than him. If my side is going to win, my light will be either Kise-kun or Himuro-kun."

"That's a lot to gamble on when we have already beaten both of them, twice in the case of Kise." Kagami pointed out.

"That may be true," Kuroko allowed, "But that was us against them, you have never seen us play together on the same team. It will change things."

"I don't know what's going to happen, but I think it's going to be interesting." Kagami mused.

"Definitely," Kuroko agreed before they came to the intersection where they had to go their separate ways. "See you tomorrow Kagami-kun."

"Yeah see ya Kuroko," Kagami responded before adjusting his bag and crossing the street.

If he had looked back he may have caught a glimpse of a very rare sight, Kuroko was smirking, because Kagami had forgotten one tiny little insignificant detail.

The next day was Sunday.

Kuroko had been working towards a little plan to get some of his Lights together, but he decided to keep Aomine and Kagami in the dark until the last minute. Momoi knew and she would be useful in roping his first stubborn Light into cooperating.

Now he just needed to stop at the convenience store for snacks.


	6. Come Together

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Little competition never hurt anyone.

Chapter Six

Come Together

The air was warm, but a nice breeze was blowing which made Kuroko nod approvingly. A perfect day for what he had been planning. Towards that end Kagami was beside him, gym bag slung over his shoulder at the Shadow's request. Kuroko had his own bag too because he had invited Kagami to his favorite outdoor court for a little basketball.

Kuroko may have forgotten to mention something to Kagami, but he figured it would be better to spring the knowledge of their guests on him at the last minute. Even if Kuroko did think his Light would enjoy the day, Kagami would have still been stubborn about coming if Kuroko hadn't tricked him into it.

They had gotten there early enough they had the court to themselves. In no time at all they were under one of the nets in a game of one on one, something that had definitely gotten more intense since Kuroko had learned to shoot.

At one point the ball bounced out of control after a dunk from Kagami, the ball rolling until it came to rest against a pair of familiar shoes. "Hello Midorima-kun, Takao-kun, glad you decided to come." Kuroko greeted, leaving Kagami to shoot a glare at his Shadow for the surprise, but he soon shrugged and accepted it, Midorima and Takao on the court with them might not be such a bad thing. Kagami was never one to give up the opportunity to challenge a strong player.

"Hello Kuroko." Midorima responded, "I hope you know what you are doing with this."

His comment left Kagami at a bit of a loss. Yes, he had suspected Kuroko was up to something, but didn't know what it was. Oh, wait, he couldn't have. Anything but that.

One look at his Shadow told him all he needed to know. "You invited all of them didn't you?"

"Is that a bad thing?" Kuroko asked with a blank expression Kagami wasn't buying for a second.

"Do you enjoy seeing bloodshed? All of us, on the same court, with a basketball?" Kagami pointed out incredulously.

"I have no intention of spilling blood. If you believe such a thing will happen, any act of violence will undoubtedly come from you." Midorima brought Kagami up short.

Before the irritated red-head could respond, Takao piped up, "I don't know, I've seen Aomine play, he's just as likely to cause trouble."

"Aomine always did have an attitude problem." Midorima agreed not even attempting to argue, as there was nothing to argue against.

Kuroko's voice cut in, "Did you forget we will all be on the same court in the showcase? I thought it would be good to get some practice in outside of formal games or practice. We all play differently when that happens."

"What about your point guard?" Takao asked noticing the absence of the eagle eyed Seirin player.

"I invited Izuki-Senpai, but he couldn't come." Kuroko replied, still a little disappointed they would be missing one of their teammates, but Izuki had already made plans he couldn't break.

"Anyone you invited that isn't coming?" Kagami's voice was a lot more controlled than the Shutoku players were expecting, but he still looked a bit stunned at the situation, no one could blame him under the circumstances and in the back of his mind Midorima was entertaining the thought that Aomine would probably be under similar distress once Momoi bullied him into coming to the court.

"No, they all liked the idea." Okay in all honesty he had to do a little bribing, the truth of that showing in the bag of snacks he had brought to the court that Kagami had assumed was for the two of them to munch on between games.

"…Even Akashi?" The true nature of his reluctance showed itself with that one.

"Why wouldn't I invite him?" Kuroko asked calmly, Takao laughing at Kagami's disgruntled look, even Midorima appeared slightly amused at Kagami's worry.

Kagami sighed, "I guess you're right." He allowed, "I trust you Kuroko, if you want him here than I will go along without a fight."

"If it helps I asked Murasakibara-kun to bring Himuro-kun. You will be able to play with him again." Kuroko explained in an attempt at a peace offering. As apprehensive as Kagami had been, he knew the hot-headed power forward missed him a lot. About as badly as Kuroko had missed the close friendship the Generation of Miracles once had.

Midorima added on, "The others will probably bring the teammate they chose. If for no other reason than to prove they brought the best extra compared to the others."

"Awww Shin-chan I didn't know you felt that way!" Takao teased with a mock swoon and hand over his heart.

The shooting guard responded with a put-upon sigh, "I don't remember implying anything about you."

The slightly stiff reply was met with a true laugh from Takao, "Sure you didn't, but thank you Shin-chan, I'm glad I get the chance to play with everyone."

Midorima blushed again, everyone but Kuroko believing he was embarrassed by the sentiment, when the Shadow knew it was due to him being surprised and thankful.

Midorima did show emotion, he couldn't help it if people miss read it, his general social skills really were that poor. It was a good thing he had Takao now, the Point Guard was surprisingly good at handling his oddities and acting like a buffer between Midorima and the Shutoku team. It had heartened Kuroko to see that, even when things had still been so tense, it was one of the few things that had given him hope that the people he had once spent so much time with were still at least partially the same.

"So are you two here to play or what?" Kagami had gotten over any reservations, his love of the game and strong opponents winning out over any kind of hesitancy.

"What teams?" Midorima asked, stacking his bag next to Kuroko and Kagami's, laying a small plush horse gently on top. Takao tossed his own bag over to the others after seeing Midorima get rid of his.

Kagami couldn't help but grin, "No teams. We play for ourselves." He was curious to see what would happen if they eliminated any partnership, either with himself and Kuroko, Midorima with Takao, or Kuroko and Midorima. They all knew how each other played, time to see how well they could use that against each other.

Midorima was momentarily taken aback but with a sidelong look at his ex-teammate he replied, "Only if Kuroko agrees too."

"I want to try it," Kuroko assured, just as curious as Kagami, and while he knew he probably wouldn't win against them, he wasn't quite as dependent on others as he used to be. He might even be able to score a point or two.

He was still the Shadow that fueled the Light, but his influence was much greater now that he could support his Lights in other ways than passing. Having his own power was just a different kind of shadow, now instead of relying on his Light, Kuroko made others believe he was a lone threat leaving them not expecting him to back up his Lights so thoroughly. Alone Shadow and Light were both strong, but the combination was as deadly as ever if not more so. It was misdirection overflow on a much broader basis.

Twenty minutes later Kuroko was collapsing exhausted back onto one of the benches set out for players, guzzling sports drink. Trying to synch up with one Light while keeping an eye on everyone else was taxing enough, but actively playing against all the others was far more draining.

"Kurokocchi! What happened, are you alright? Kurokocchi answer me!?" Kise was both excited and concerned, the only thing stopping him from bounding over to the Shadow was Kasamatsu's firm grip on the back of his tank top.

"I'm fine Kise-kun," Kuroko managed to mumble, tilting his head to show his sweaty face and tired eyes to the worried blonde. "We were just playing hard."

"He scored three times!" Takao explained, just as happy at the feat as the others. "And we were all playing against each other."

"That's great Kuroko," Kasamatsu complimented, adjusting his grip on the now squirming Kise, he was swooning and trying to reach Kuroko so he could glomp him. Kasamatsu was not letting go of his Kouhai until he calmed down a bit.

"Oi Kise, if you're that excited start playing!" Kagami ordered passing him the ball abruptly, only to raise an eyebrow as Kasamatsu didn't let go, instead catching the ball himself. One-handed. Now that was interesting.

An angry tic showed itself on the Kaijo captain. "This brat doesn't get to play unless I do. That was the deal for us to come here." Kasamatsu was not playing Kise's babysitter unless he got something out of it too. Not on what was supposed to be a nice Kise-free day off.

"Works for me, I just want to play," Kagami responded with a shrug, Takao mirroring him with Midorima simply nodding his head while adjusting his glasses.

"I take it you're going to sit this one out Kuroko?" Kagami asked his Shadow, not leaving to get back on the court until he got an answer.

"Yes, I'm just going to watch." He confirmed, waving them off back to the court.

"Do we still want to play in a free for all?" Takao questioned, the pack of players expanding large enough it was worth considering splitting off into teams.

"There is an odd number of us without Kuroko playing so we might as well keep going as we were, at least until someone else shows up," Kagami responded, taking the lead again.

"No, I don't think so," Midorima objected. "You are the one worked up about playing against us. How about Kise with Takao, and Kasamatsu with me, leaving you by yourself; let's see how you hold up like that." Midorima was getting a little irritated with Kagami's attitude towards the Miracles. Time to make him work for it again if Kagami wanted to be placed on the same level as them.

"No complaints from me," Kasamatsu liked Midorima's idea, if for no other reason than to get to play with someone from the Generation of Miracles who wasn't Kise. He trusted and relied on Kise to be Kaijo's ace and help gain victory in their matches, but that didn't mean he wasn't interested in playing either with or against the others.

"Fine," Kagami growled, "We'll do it your way, but don't complain if I win!" He challenged. He wanted to say don't come crying to me, but even he couldn't be that cruel, he still remembered what Kuroko had said about Midorima being a bit sensitive when it came to other people. Midorima's reaction to that first loss would be a hit to his pride if someone brought it up.

"You wish," Midorima responded under his breath, only Takao close enough to hear him, the Point Guard hiding his grin. It was always nice to see Shin-Chan not acting so stiff all the time. Usually it was situations like this, playing basketball unrestricted by the pressures of bright lights and loud cheers, that brought out the competitive and, dare Takao say it, playful side of the Shooting Guard.

Without losing time the five players were back on the court. The three way match getting under way without problem. Kuroko enjoying the view while watching them rip each other apart, figuratively, on the court. To him it looked like everyone was giving their all just like they had in the Inter-High and Winter Cup tournaments, the difference being every single one of them had a smile on their face, even Midorima though for him you had to know what you were looking for. It was the slightest up turn of his lips in satisfaction of a good game.

It was odd for the others to see Midorima play so close to the net. The other Miracles knew he could do it, but it had been awhile since Kise or Kuroko had seen him, and while Takao had an inkling of what his friend was capable of he hadn't seen Midorima really let loose. Kagami had known before they started not to underestimate him, it had been Midorima that helped him unlock his potential that time at the training camp, even though he was still raw in his talent, he still couldn't believe he hadn't gotten a single shot threw against a player that was almost purely outside offense in official games.

Even though his eyes were still trained on the court, Kuroko noticed the next person arriving just due to his strong presence, it hadn't dimmed a bit since their vicious match in the finals of the Winter Cup, but at least it wasn't as harsh and cold as it had become. Now it was much more like the old Akashi that had brought them to victory with determination and confidence rather than domination and intimidation.

"Hello Akashi-kun, I'm glad you could come." Kuroko was using his normal unemotional voice, but the sentiment was genuine, he really was glad they would soon have everyone together again, including the wayward ex-captain.

"It was good of you to ask Tetsuya," The red-haired boy answered, his eyes also tracking the movement on the court. "They have all improved well." He observed.

"Yes. They work hard." Kuroko acknowledged as Akashi settled down next to him primly, still as aristocratic as ever even if they had managed to smooth out some of his rougher personality traits.

The Shadow didn't see his most unpredictable Light look him over appraisingly, "You have done just as well Tetsuya. I knew you would."

Kuroko's heart clenched, and he couldn't help it, "You tried to replace me."

"Maybe." Akashi acknowledged. "I did the same with Shougo, and I gambled correctly in switching to Ryouta. You however were always a prototype of sorts. No one had seen a player like you before, training you was a matter of trial and error, and yet look at you now, going beyond any expectation. I wanted to know whether lightning could strike twice or if it really was unique to you. I knew as soon as I found your mirror it would be the challenge that either defeated you, or completed your style. I never had much doubt it would be you who came out on top, but it was worth it to see it happen." Akashi didn't bother to defend his actions, he was merely explaining them. He had never, and would never, apologize for the decisions he had made, even if he himself had to acknowledge they might not have been the right ones. What mattered was he believed they were at the time, so he would stand by what he said without trying to save face backpedalling.

"Why did you mock me in that last match?" That still burned Kuroko, to hear Akashi tell him he shouldn't have gotten stronger, that it in fact made him weaker.

Akashi smiled slowly, "I mocked you so I would get exactly the same response as you are showing me now. You do your best Tetsuya when you think you have something to prove. You throw your heart and soul into it, and that's what gets you through matches you probably would have lost at any other time. If what I said was enough to get you to give up than you are not the player I trained. I wanted to see exactly how far you could go, and you did better than I had hoped."

"But, in Teiko, you never would let me learn any of that. Why not?" It was something Aomine had commented on, and later a few of Seirin's players after the Winter Cup match.

Akashi repressed the urge to sigh, "Because back then you really weren't strong enough yet. You had to be a complete Shadow before you learned how to alter that. I couldn't let you potentially give up on the thing you were so great at. You had to find the balance yourself once you were tough enough to know what your limits really were. It wasn't just you. I may have pushed everyone as far as they could go in training, but notice how fast everyone developed when they left? I could have done things differently for all of you and it would have made them that much more deadly on the court, but there would have been far worse consequences."

"You didn't want us to hurt ourselves," Kuroko realized. "Kise-kun was getting hurt physically in games, while Aomine-kun was already getting too good to find any competition in it, he didn't need any more skills or it would have only gotten worse."

"Yes." Akashi nodded his head approvingly. "I set the six of you up so your new teams would have a chance at capitalizing on the potential all of you had, but only when your bodies and minds were ready for it."

"…You would know wouldn't you Akashi-kun?" Kuroko came to a realization. "You forced your talent to come out before it was ready, and it hurt you. It changed who you were because you were not ready to handle it even though you thought you were."

"Something like that," Akashi answered vaguely. Kuroko had gotten it right, but it was very hard for the prideful Point Guard to admit a mistake that large. "I don't expect this to go any further than us I hope you realize? I answered your questions because I owe you a debt for the pain myself and the others put you through. I'm owning up to that, I should have seen it sooner, but at least I know you've done well for yourself."

"Seirin and Kagami-kun have treated me very well. I couldn't have chosen a better team to join. I didn't want a team that was already in the limelight, I wanted a team that was ready to fight their way up." Kuroko admitted, being honest with his old mentor.

"I thought that was what you would look for," Akashi admitted. "It's the same move I would have made if I had been in your place."

"I know," Kuroko responded simply, the two of them were very similar, which is what was so painful about Akashi's change. Aomine's depression had started the pain, and Akashi's changes finished it and made it so there was no way he could keep playing with the Generation of Miracles. At least not while they were acting so unlike themselves.

If Akashi was going to say anything in reply he was interrupted by a sulking Aomine, and a scared looking Sakarai making their way onto the court. Kuroko's first Light stalked over to where Kuroko and Akashi were sitting. "Satsuki wouldn't leave me alone until I showed up, what are you up to Tetsu?" He asked with a demanding tone.

"Is it so bad for all of us to get together Daiki?" Akashi intercepted the question. Aomine's stubbornness was something Akashi had worked very hard to curtail, and much like Kise's exuberance, it hadn't been very successful. Akashi took every opportunity to ensure the both of them were kept on their toes around him.

"Of course not Akashi!" Aomine was quick to retort, knowing any delay could end very badly for him.

"Then you should have no problem with Tetsuya's request," Akashi responded with a bland tone that no one in the Generation of Miracles would be fooled by.

"Fine, we're here anyway." Aomine gave in grumpily. "Why aren't you playing?"

"I already did Aomine-kun," Kuroko replied first while wondering just how long Aomine planned on living.

"I arrived not long before you Daiki and I had a few things I wanted to discuss with Tetsuya. I will play before the end of the day, but I prefer to wait for the others." Well at least Akashi did answer him even if he did it in an imperious tone.

Aomine turned to the court watching the game in progress, the others not noticing either his or Akashi's arrival. "How are they split up? Looks like they are ganging up on Bakagami."

"Midorima-kun suggested it, there are two teams of two while Kagami-kun is by himself." Kuroko explained, knowing his original Light was itching to get on the court too, but was enjoying the view of his rival getting hammered by the others.

"What he do to make Midorima mad?" He was typically hard to provoke, or at least lose control far enough for outsiders to see the reaction.

Kuroko shrugged, "Not sure."

"Shintaro is mad at Taiga for the same reasons he used to get mad at you Daiki," Akashi analyzed, it wasn't a difficult leap to make.

"Go play Aomine-kun, I know you want to," Kuroko urged, the less time Aomine spent watching and the more playing the better. "You too Sakurai-kun, join up with Aomine-kun."

"Oh no, we'll play alright, but he is on Bakagami's team. My turn to play alone." That might have worried Kuroko if it wasn't for the fire in his eyes. Aomine was actually looking forward to a game.

"Don't disappoint me Daiki, I don't want to see you holding back." Akashi ordered as the Touou players left, Aomine dragging Sakurai before the trembling high schooler could get one word in with the others.

"Some day Sakurai-kun is going to lash out." Kuroko observed.

"Yes, everyone does. The fact he has put up with Daiki so long without doing so says a lot about him." Akashi noted. "From what I remember you two didn't play together a full month before he angered you enough for retaliation."

"In fairness Murasakibara-kun succeeded far quicker." Kuroko pointed out, not objecting to Akashi's observation.

"You and Atsushi did have very strong opinions when it came to basketball, still do, and unfortunately they were in opposition." Akashi acknowledged.

"Are you really going to play Akashi-kun?" Kuroko wasn't too shy to admit he wanted to see that very badly.

"Yes." Akashi confirmed. "I would not have come today if I did not intend to participate. I know my presence causes tension among us, I wish to remedy that, I let it continue for far too long."

"Why did your family decide to start this charity?" That question had bugged Kuroko since the idea was proposed.

"You." Akashi answered shortly.

Kuroko couldn't help but blink a few times in surprise, breaking his normal impassiveness in the process. "What did I do?"

"Convinced me anyone can win. What I've asked my family to do is give people the chance to love basketball as much as we do, and we enjoy the game the most when we are playing with or against each other. At least running the showcases with only us, and a scattering of other strong players, will make it so we don't trample on anyone else when we are really aiming for each other." Akashi admitted. "I really have changed Tetsuya. I got lost for a while, but I'm back now. I refuse to change everything about myself, that would be both ridiculous and dishonest, but I am willing to adjust how I treat people. I'm working on it anyway."

"It's good to have you back Akashi-kun," Kuroko responded quietly, the pair of them sharing a small smile between them.

"Good to be back." Akashi admitted, "But I believe that is where we should pause the conversation for now. Atsushi and Tatsuya are almost here."

"How do you know that?" Kuroko hadn't seen Akashi check his phone at all since they sat down.

Akashi merely pointed beyond Kuroko's head to where the edge of the court was bordered by a high fence, Murasakibara's distinctive purple hair could be spotted over the top.

"Oh good, I was worried. I brought his snacks, I was afraid they would get soft in the heat if they didn't get here soon." Kuroko stated. Murasakibara would probably eat them either way, but they would taste better fresh.

"You spoil him," Akashi chided. Kuroko couldn't help it though, as much as they disagreed about basketball they actually did get along in most other ways.

"Like you didn't," Kuroko murmured as the Yosen players entered the court.

"I heard that Tetsuya," Akashi responded.

"What happened Aka-chin?" Murasakibara asked, getting close enough to hear by the time their ex-captain had responded.

"Here's your snacks like I promised Murasakibara-kun," Kuroko offered the bag quickly, successfully distracting the giant, Akashi just gave him a long look, Kuroko maintaining his poker face as well as he could.

"I see Taiga and the others have been playing for a while, he's starting to slow down." Himuro noticed, evaluating the game in progress critically.

"We got here first, he decided he wanted to take on four people at once, and is now battling Aomine-kun." Kuroko explained.

Himuro shook his head slowly, "He's never going to change. At least this way he can't blame me for it."

"They should probably take a break soon, it's getting hot and they're playing hard." Akashi spoke up, the Captain in him rearing its head. Hey, he did know how to protect his team, that's why he never managed to kill any of them off with his grueling training regimes.

"Let me take care of it," Himuro requested, heading quietly over to the tangle of players battling it out below the hoop.

Kise spotted him first and was about to call out when Himuro quickly put a finger up to his lips singling to the blonde to stay quiet. He was able to get close to his brother without notice since Kagami and Aomine were facing each other down again, focusing only on each other letting the others fall into the background. Neither of them were in the zone which was good for Himuro, it meant he could judge the timing better to pull off what he had in mind.

All his time with Atsushi had taught him patience even more than what he already knew. Waiting for the right moment was a simple thing, though by now everyone but the two aces had spotted him, and were waiting to see what he would do, when Kagami and Aomine went one-on-one it was a good idea to just get out of the way until the equilibrium broke.

Well it was about to break alright, into a million pieces. Kagami was going for a drive passed Aomine when Himuro leaped in and stole the ball, setting up and shooting a mirage shot so quickly Aomine couldn't get to it until it was already in the air. Kagami could block a Mirage shot but was too shocked to follow immediately, and Aomine hadn't faced it yet, the ball landed in the hoop with a gentle swish against the net.

"What the Hell Tatsuya!" Kagami yelled once the shock wore off, Aomine sulking and glaring in the background, shaking off Kise when he tried to pat his shoulder in commiseration.

"Time for a break, you two are running the others into the ground, bad enough Akashi agreed you should come off the court for a while." Since his brother had started it Himuro decided to scold Kagami in English, it gave them a bit of privacy, where when they were in America and did something similar they spoke Japanese.

Kagami wasn't too happy about that, he and Aomine had just hit their stride in the game, only Kise had been brave enough to try and keep up to the bitter end. Midorima had backed off as soon as it became clear he was outclassed by the three aces when it came to close quarters playing. He would always be better on the outside and he had accepted that, he could at least claim he was as good, or a little better in some cases, at defense than the players outside the Generation of Miracles playing with them. That was something to help his pride anyway.

"Fine," Kagami half growled as Himuro turned to the others and filled them in for the benefit of those that didn't speak English.

"Time to take a break, I volunteered to come get you." He explained.

"Oh thank god!" Takao burst out, "I thought we were going to die!"

"Takao, control yourself." Midorima ordered, rubbing the bridge of his nose to calm the developing headache.

"I think I agree with him," Kasamatsu had his hands on his knees, bowed down panting.

"Me too," Sakurai was wiping the sweat off his forehead, but was otherwise in the same position as Kasamatsu. His voice was a lot quieter than the other two, but the very fact he spoke up at all told the tale of his exhaustion.

After retrieving their water bottles from their bags they managed to hobble over and collapse onto the risers Kuroko and Akashi had claimed for themselves, now with Murasakibara munching on his snacks next to them.

"Stamina will be the first thing we work on, and that includes you Tetsuya and Atsushi." Akashi declared, the only one not too tired or intimidated to respond was Kasamatsu.

"You're probably right," He admitted still attempting to get his breathing under control. The Miracles weren't just good players, they could keep going until their opponents collapsed from exhaustion if they didn't give up before that.

Murasakibara just crunched his way through more chips, Akashi and him had multiple conversations about that kind of thing before. He would wait until actually asked to do more than he was willing before objecting. He could occasionally get out of some work as a reward of being patient for that long. Kuroko had been right earlier when he accused Akashi of spoiling the purple haired giant too. They all did, it was just too hard not to with the way he acted.

It was not lost on Kuroko that the person who was usually the loudest had remained silent, even when Aomine and Kagami started arguing again which would normally be a perfect opportunity for him to interrupt and participate. Something had upset Kise, that was the only times he was quiet.

He kept it in the back of his mind while the banter continued, and soon enough the players were rested enough Akashi was giving orders again, "If we are going to work on stamina, we should start now. Ryouta, Atsushi, Daiki, Shintaro, Tetsuya, let's play together again." He really did want to get close to his old team again, and the extra players really did look dead on their feet.

"Oi Akashi, I want to play too!" Kagami immediately objected, earning himself a dark glare from the Rakuzan point guard.

"Wait your turn." Oh he would let him and the others play again, but this was for the sake of his team. The Generation of Miracles needed the healing playing together could give them.

With a humph Kagami slumped back on the bench next to his brother while the Miracles walked back to the court, his irritation palpable around him. "Calm down Taiga and watch this is going to be interesting," Himuro spoke calmly, long used to the tiger's temper.

"I've seen them all before, I just want to play." He objected.

"I think you're missing something," Himuro observed.

"What?" Kagami snapped back.

"Who do you think Kuroko is going to pair up with?" Himuro lead him to the truth.

"Ahomine probably," That just added to his irritation.

"I doubt it," Himuro refuted. "I'm willing to bet it will be Akashi."

"But Kuroko said he wasn't going to pair up with Akashi in our games." Kagami informed, thinking his brother hadn't known about it.

"Maybe not in games but this is different," Himuro was convinced he was right, and was only backed up when Takao joined the conversation.

"He's right, look," The hawk eyed player drew their attention to the court, the match had started with Aomine and Kise facing off, Aomine powering past the blonde, but his domination didn't last. Kuroko had stolen the ball from him, and was redirecting it to Akashi. He knew his old Light down to the last detail, Kuroko was just as good at predicting Aomine as Aomine was predicting Kuroko's moves.

From there it was a free for all of stealing, passing, and shooting. Everyone managing to get the ball at some point, barely any shots making it into the hoop with Murasakibara on guard. Midorima had retreated to the edge of the playing area, his long shots the best counter, while Aomine's free form, Akashi's precise, and Kuroko's Phantom shots were doing almost as well.

The spectators realized Akashi and Kuroko had synched up to the point Akashi was passing to Kuroko almost as much as the other way around. Akashi could score against Murasakibara, but he had enough trust in Kuroko to give him the opportunity to make his own points.

It was a truly amazing sight to see all the Generation of Miracles players on the same court letting loose safely in the company of others capable of handling and matching their extreme skills.

"…This is awesome and terrifying at the same time." Takao observed, his lack of shyness allowing him to be the first to comment.

Sakurai looked a bit stunned, "I thought just playing with Aomine was difficult, and we have to keep up with that?" He was starting to look a bit green at the thought.

"We wouldn't be here if they didn't think we could." Himuro responded, normally quiet, but he was just as interested in this as the others. "Atsushi was more insistent than I've ever seen him that we do this. I think it's Akashi's influence. It really wasn't like him at all."

"Kise's been acting weird too," Kasamatsu mused, rolling his eyes at the questioning looks thrown his way, "I mean even weirder than usual. I've said before that he can get serious and I meant it, but lately he has been distracted and moody, messing up in practices. You saw how he was this afternoon, when have you ever seen Kise not talking? Even when he's serious he isn't quiet, just focused."

"Shin-chan's been normal, for him, haven't noticed anything anyway. Although that might not mean much, he and Akashi spent more time with each other than some of the others at Teiko from what I understand." Takao reported.

"Aomine has actually been showing up for practice if that counts as odd," Sakurai felt awkward about not contributing but was still hesitant at speaking. He really was trying to work on his shyness but it was a very hard road for him. At least everyone except the sulking Kagami was calm right now, it helped him feel more comfortable.

"I think things will settle down with those guys soon," Kagami shook off enough of his funk to participate in the conversation.

"What makes you think that?" Kasamatsu asked curiously, he had to admit, the changes in Kise bothered him quite a bit. At least he knew how to deal with a hyper and bouncy Kise, this brooding version was a whole new creature and he wasn't sure he liked it.

"Kuroko," Kagami replied. "He's been very tense since all this started, but today changed that. I saw it when we came back over here. I don't know what he talked to Akashi about but it had to have been something important. If it was enough to make Kuroko think things were okay, than the others should come around eventually."

"We will just have to see," Kasamatsu responded, though to him it was a long shot for Kise, if anything the day had only made it worse.

The game of the Miracles continued for a good part of an hour, Kuroko giving in twenty minutes before the others were done. He was given time to rest without questions while the observers watched the end of the game.

The five brightly colored players returned, Akashi giving the orders, "Taiga, Tatsuya join us, Ryouta stay here with Tetsuya and the rest. We will rotate people as we go along." He decided.

Kagami sprang off the bench, Himuro following with a small indulgent smile at his brother's simple joy. Kise dropped onto the bench, doing nothing but stare at the ground.

Kuroko waited until Akashi and the others were back on the court before he said anything. "Kise-kun, you're upset, what happened?" Straight to the point, he didn't feel like dancing around the topic.

"It's nothing Kurokocchi." Kise responded quickly, but he couldn't muster even a small smile.

"No, it's something," Kasamatsu objected, "I've noticed it for a while now."

Kise sighed, but then he spoke so quickly in a mumbled voice that they didn't catch a word of it, "Say that again Kise-kun," Kuroko urged.

"I'm not good enough, there, I admitted it. I thought I might be, but I'm not. I can't keep up with them when they are against each other, how am I supposed to win against both of them?" He burst out before hanging his head, he others around them wisely staying silent to give his Senpai and former teammate the opportunity to calm him down without interference.

Kasamatsu wacked the back of his head, "Idiot, you stop that right now. If you think you will lose you will. You Miracles should know that the best of all of us, how many teams did you defeat before you stepped foot on the court?" He chastised a bit harshly, but it needed to be done.

Kuroko shook his head, the sigh escaping him the same as he did whenever he had to explain something to Aomine or Kagami, his other pig-headed Lights. "Kise-kun needs to stop thinking like you will be playing alone. I am a shadow to my Light. I chose who my Light is, and I have chosen you in the past and will again. Why do you think I'm going to do that?"

"Because Akashi won't let you play with Aominecchi or Kagamicchi." Kise responded glumly, though he had lifted his head back up.

"No," Kuroko corrected, "It's because I believe in Kise-kun. Aomine-kun and Kagami-kun are strong, but that doesn't mean you aren't and you have something they don't have."

Kise was perking up rapidly hearing him talk, "What's that?"

"They are stubborn and do things their own way, and it works for them, but you're different. You learn Kise-kun, every time you go on the court you learn something new. You can be just as strong as them if we show you enough. Akashi-kun pushed you the hardest, he saw your potential, that's what all of us have been trying to get you to see." Kuroko suspected Kise hadn't realized what they were doing, but didn't know Kise had been thinking so darkly.

"We've been doing the same at Kaijo. There is a reason we trust you to be our lead in games, we know what you're capable of, especially when you get serious about playing." Kasamatsu backed up Kuroko.

"See Kise-kun, if your teammates think you can do it, you should listen because they are usually right after knowing each other for so long." Kuroko concluded soon finding himself wrapped up in a wall of muscle, Kise hugging him, not strangling or draping himself heavily, an actual normal hug. This allowed Kuroko to hug back without feeling like he was cutting off his own circulation.

"Thank you Kurokocchi," He whispered quietly head resting in the crook of Kuroko's neck keeping his words between the two of them.

"You're welcome Kise-kun," Even as tumultuous as his thoughts were, Kise realized Kuroko was being completely honest with him, and meant every word of it, because for once the Shadow wasn't pushing him away.

"I want to be Kurokocchi's Light, will you be my Shadow?" He asked hesitantly to confirm his hopes.

Kuroko took a minute to answer. "Kise-kun, I already am." He had never stopped being a shadow to any of the miracles, but Kise had always been a bit special to him. He had been Kise's teacher, so they had a bond Kuroko didn't have with the others. Aomine was his first friend on the Teiko team, and Akashi had been his own teacher, all different things. He wanted to be Kise's shadow again, he wanted to see his underrated Light shine as brightly as the others.


	7. Maps

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> There's a first time for everything.

Chapter Seven

Maps

Kagami was having the time of his life. Of course he had been startled at finding out every single one of the Generation of Miracles would be showing up to play, but once the shock had worn off he was ready to jump into it head first. Playing one at a time was exhilarating, all of them was nirvana.

It was him against Aomine again. Staring each other down as the tanned Touou player dribbled the ball, a familiar cocky smirk on his face that made Kagami's blood boil that much hotter. Almost faster than the eye could follow, Aomine surged forward without warning, his speed and agility unmatched. Well almost. Kagami was turned and keeping up with him the moment his mind caught up with the movement. Focused only on each other neither one of them saw anything on the sidelines. That was their downfall.

Kagami had managed to steal the ball from Aomine, turning the tide, the slightly taller ace pressuring him on the left. Out of the blue another person rushed into the game, with precision gained from long years of practice he captured the ball and shot within a heartbeat.

Kagami recognized the style before he looked at his face. Even through his shock anger started to creep in. He was yelling before he knew it, the typical calm response just doing more to irritate him.

Is it no wonder he was sulking on the bench when Akashi wouldn't let him play with the others?

Then he saw it. Kuroko playing with Akashi. The two smallest players in the group were dominating the field. He had a much better idea now why they didn't pair up in games, no one would ever stand a chance. Probably not lasting until the first quarter. He could only imagine how intimidating it would be to have both Kuroko and Akashi backing up Aomine or even Kise.

Kuroko hadn't been lying the other day, Akashi really couldn't compete with the others in terms of height, but he had omitted the fact Akashi didn't need to. He was a very deadly player as a point guard, it wasn't necessary for Akashi to be power forward for his talent to shine. The pair of them had the taller and broader Miracles tripping over themselves trying to catch up. It dawned on the watching players why it was Akashi that figured out what Kuroko could do, he had the same skill but was unable to disappear. By himself Akashi couldn't use misdirection, but he realized the potential inherent in the technique. What he saw in Kuroko was the ideal person to capitalize on his theory of invisible basketball based on passes and steals.

And now Kuroko had taken that one step further. Creating a style that either focused around himself disappearing, or on making the others vanish. More and more he focused on using his surprising presence to distract attention from the others. He had evolved into an extreme threat on the court, enough of a threat players would take their eyes off the ace just to mark his position. It was power in a whole new way.

Holy hell, it dawned on Kagami slowly there was a reason Kuroko had offered up a method to utilize both Midorima and Murasakibara's skills to their fullest potential. They would be playing against the trio of Akashi, Kuroko, and Kise with his brother as back up and Sakurai's rapidly improving shooting skills. Not to mention the threat of Izuki's eagle eye when it came time for Kuroko to sub out. More and more he recognized Kuroko's attempt to even the playing field for what it was. He was not handing them victory, he was giving them a fighting chance.

Kagami had always played his best when he was backed up against the wall. This could be just the kind of incentive he needed to grow even stronger. There was a moment of hesitation brought on by that thought though, Aomine, he had the same drive and it had nearly ripped him apart.

He would keep it in mind, but Kagami truly thought none of them were in danger of that anymore. Splitting up and distributing the extreme talent of the Miracles to different teams meant they would always have at least one match-up that would keep them on their toes, because just as Kagami wanted to get stronger he had no doubt the others would be doing the same thing.

Now he was back to playing against the Miracles, but now he had his brother beside him instead of opposing him. Kuroko may be the ultimate Shadow to his Lights, but that did not mean there weren't other duos almost as powerful. Himuro and Kagami had grown up on the court together since they were children. Aomine had clawed his way up the ladder alone, where the brothers had done it together. They knew each other's movements just as well as they did their own. Even Akashi had to recognize their skill, or at the very least their tenacity, they faced down the four Miracles left in the match without flinching.

They didn't win, Kagami expected that, but they weren't completely stopped. Points had been scored on all sides. That was what he called basketball. It just wasn't the same if you always won, or didn't have a chance in hell of winning. Right now the players were entering onto even ground, and the result would be staggering growth in the game they all loved.

"How long did it take you to learn that shot Tatsuya?" Akashi asked Himuro appraisingly, watching a Mirage Shot and facing it were two very different things.

"The shot itself only took a few weeks, but it was a couple months' worth of building up the reflexes to actually pull it off the way it's supposed to work," The Yosen ace explained.

Akashi nodded, "I thought that might be the case. The theory behind that shot is essentially straightforward, but those are often the hardest plays to get right. To make a simple shot effective it must be absolutely perfect." Adding a small extra jump to a release wasn't that difficult, the hard to achieve portion of the shot was the precision timing required to truly make the ball appear in a spot it wasn't.

Midorima surprisingly broke in, "If you think you could teach me how to do that, I will show you how to shoot the way I do."

"I have never attempted teaching, but I guess I could give it a try," Himuro responded slowly, a little caught off guard by the request. He never would have expected one of the Generation of Miracles to actually ask him to teach them.

"Hey, if you're going to show him, do the same with Sakurai would yah? He's good, needs a hand in believing it though." Aomine added on, only because his teammate was not in hearing distance.

"Which one of us were you talking to?" Himuro wasn't sure, since Midorima had offered to teach him in return.

Aomine shrugged tanned shoulders, "Both. Just show him something so he might quit that apologizing crap. I actually did try once or twice when I was bored, he didn't pick it up though. He's too smooth when he shoots to do what I can." Aomine's shots were based on speed and abrupt agile movements, he sunk them cleanly, but that didn't mean his shooting was smooth.

"Oi Ahomine, I'm surprised you didn't run him off screaming." Kagami broke in, not able to contain himself. "It's not like anyone else can shoot the way you do. Play against you yes, but that's not the same."

"Ah, Taiga, you do realize that sounded an awful lot like a compliment right?" His brother pointed out, only Kagami and possibly Murasakibara catching the playfulness in his tone and the spark of humor in his eyes.

"Take it as you will," Kagami copied Aomine from earlier and shrugged, with the other Ace still looking a little shocked at his comments. "I still say its suicide to try and learn from him."

"Well now, I wonder if you realize that isn't precisely true," Akashi was the one to speak next, and this time only Midorima caught his amusement. "Tetsuya learned his Phantom shot from Daiki, and Ryouta was able to learn his style but needs to build up more stamina to use it for longer."

"Kise is getting good," Aomine noted. "It was harder than it used to be to beat him. He only needed to last another five minutes. He got tired and made a rookie mistake without having enough time to recover."

"Coming from you Daiki, I wonder how Ryouta would react if he heard you?" Akashi pondered, spinning the ball on the tip of his finger nonchalantly to give himself something to do with his hands.

Aomine huffed, "Why do you think I said it when he couldn't hear me? He already acts like a frigging puppy. That would just make it worse."

"Aomine, if you really had a problem with it you would tell him off." Midorima tried to stop himself he really did, but in the end he just couldn't help but comment. Aomine had very explosive emotions, he would have went off on Kise had the hero worship routine rubbed him the wrong way.

Aomine remained stubbornly silent, that was until Kagami burst out laughing. "You do the same thing as Kuroko don't you? You let him get away with it."

"Oh shut up Bakagami. I meant what I said about the puppy thing, and even I wouldn't be cruel enough to kick a puppy." He grumbled, only making the Seirin Ace laugh harder.

"I think that's enough talking for now." Akashi broke in, "Time to change up players again, and I have a plan. Atsushi and Shintaro it's your turn to sit out a round, I want you to send out Kazunari and Yukio."

Murasakibara wandered over to the bleachers and his waiting bag of snacks leaving Midorima to pass Akashi's request to the two point guards.

Both of them looked a tad intimidated going out on the court without their respective Miracles playing after watching the previous matches. They made it out without faltering though, they had volunteered for this after all, and there were only two Miracles still on the court. Well those two were the most feared of the bunch, but hey it was better than having all six out with them.

"I have a challenge for you," Akashi presented as soon as the new players reached the little group. "I want to see what you can do without holding back. This goes for you too Taiga and Tatsuya. The challenge is this, I want the four of you to coordinate with each other to score ten points in the next twenty minutes. Only your opponents will be myself and Daiki."

Okay, even Aomine looked shocked at that one, he didn't expect Akashi to link up with him out of all the other options.

Akashi used the time they took to get over their shock to call to Kuroko, "Tetsuya please set a timer for twenty minutes." He waited long enough to see the Shadow reach for his phone to set an alarm before rounding everyone up to start the game.

Those sitting out were treated to one of the most intense games they had ever witnessed on a street ball court. Takao and Kasamatsu were doing everything they could to get the ball redirected to either Himuro or Kagami, but were thwarted the majority of the time by Akashi stealing it back, and those times they did manage to complete the pass their team's shot was blocked by Aomine. The Miracles were definitely outpacing them that was for sure, but they kept going.

It came right down to the wire. Himuro had the ball, driving towards the net, Aomine coming forward to pressure him, he smoothly jumped back a step to pass it into Kagami's waiting hands. Aomine's trajectory switched just as quickly, with Akashi coming in from the side now.

Backed into a corner he didn't see much of a choice, he leapt into the air intending to take a shot in the dark of making a three. Except as soon as he left the ground he realized Takao was open. Akashi was already moving before he'd even let go of the pass, but Takao didn't hold the ball for more than a second before it was in Kasamatsu's hands, the older player cleanly sinking a layup bringing their score to ten a few seconds before Kuroko's voice called time.

Akashi found himself a bit winded after that, and the others were worse off than him, "Time for another break." He decided, the others falling in behind him as he headed over to the watching players.

Too bad for Kagami that Aomine spotted something, "Hey Bakagami, nice playing." He called out before smacking his shoulder in what could have been an almost friendly gesture.

Only Kagami just barely kept from screaming in pain. "What the Hell was that for?" He growled, not realizing until that moment he had forgotten sunscreen and now sported a glowing red sunburn on the exposed portions of his shoulders and neck, with a bit going across his cheeks and the bridge of his nose.

"You should have known better Taiga," Himuro was laughing quietly at Kagami's misfortune. "How many times did that happen when we were growing up?" His brother got so caught up in playing he forgot just how bad he could burn on a bright day like it was, Kagami's red hair making him far more susceptible to the painful consequences.

"A lot," He responded huffily. "And I seem to remember it was you hitting me then!"

"I figured if the burn wasn't teaching you, then you needed a little more help to figure it out," Himuro responded calmly as they reached the others.

Both Kise and Kuroko winced when they saw Kagami, the Shadow immediately reaching for his bag and the sun cream he kept there for just such a case. More than one of the Miracles had trouble with sunburns, the ones with lighter hair burning more often causing their more immediate reactions.

Let's just say Kagami was not the first person to have a newly developed sunburn smacked. It almost seemed like a rite of passage, a painful one, but still a tradition. The only one to escape that little ritual was Akashi. He had forgotten once, and only once, in all the time they had known him. Akashi had burnt to a crisp, definitely worse than Kagami's current state. Their ex-captain easily burned the worst out of all of them, despite most people's assumption that it would be the shadow or copycat.

Kagami sat on a lower riser with his tank top pulled off, head in his hand out of disgruntlement as Kuroko sat on the next one up to spread the soothing lotion onto the parts of the burn he couldn't reach himself.

"It's happened to us a bunch of times Kagamicchi, don't be so upset about it," Kise piped up in commiseration. "It seems like I have to put sunscreen on every two hours if I don't want to look like a boiled lobster. My agent gets so cranky if that happens."

"You must give your agent fits then, how do they cover up the bruises?" Kasamatsu was honestly a bit curious about that. Kise played hard and he had the bumps to prove it.

"Make-up artists can do amazing things now, but a full on sunburn is hard even for them and anything they put on it to mask the color stings really bad." Kise answered with a surprising amount of seriousness. His job was definitely one place he at least attempted to act professional.

"Wait a second, you wear make-up?" That hadn't struck Aomine as a possibility until that moment.

"Yeah, I do, it's part of my job." Kise almost sounded resigned. "They don't usually do too much with me, the kind of photo-shoots I normally do call for a natural look. Though walking in with a bad sunburn or a bruise on my face or arms from being hit with a basketball will get me more than just a little powder and eyeliner."

"How long have you been modeling?" Takao asked curiously.

"Since before I started going to school, I had to ask for my schedule to be cut back so I could get to basketball practice." Kise responded happily, it was gratifying to actually have someone interested in what he did outside of a court that wasn't a fangirl trying to get close to him just because of his looks. "I got recruited because of my hair and eyes when I was very young, there is a really good market for people with unusual features; especially children. I was just lucky enough to stay in the business as I aged."

"How do you deal with all the fans hounding you?" Takao figured that had to get annoying at least occasionally. He knew if that was Midorima he would have made a very good attempt at hiding himself under a rock.

Kise shrugged, "You get used to it after a while, and it isn't that hard to smile wave and thank them. That's all most of them are after, simple acknowledgement."

"Then there are the creepy ones who practically stalk you," Aomine pointed out. "How many have we had to kick out of the gym because they wouldn't stop clinging to you when it was time to start practice?"

This time Kise outright shuddered, "Don't remind me. There will always be people who take the fan thing a little too far. It only got worse when we started getting featured in basketball magazines."

Akashi had a serene smile on his face hearing that making all the Miracles tense, "About that. To make this showcase successful we will be doing interviews for Basketball Monthly to get word out. Father is already arranging it. I expect you Ryouta to help everyone through the process. We will be doing posed shots instead of candid photos of us playing. We want this to be as enticing as we can get it, which means not relying on luck to get the right picture."

If anyone had looked at Midorima or Himuro in those moments they would have seen nearly identical looks of shock as both blanched at the thought of deliberately stepping in front of a camera.

"Akashi, are you sure that's the only way?" Midorima inquired levelly, despite the fact he still didn't have any color in his face.

"Yes Shintaro I'm sure," Akashi's tone was almost gentle, at least for him. "I know you won't like it, but it's for the best. It won't take long if everyone cooperates." As calmly as that was spoken, everyone present heard the underlying threat loud and clear.

"Is there anything more you know about the shoot?' Kise asked, definitely more serious than usual. That was nice to see, though from Kasamatsu and some of the others they knew it was possible but actually observing it was something different.

"One thing we already know about it is that we don't want to make the separation of us obvious. No one is to wear their team jerseys to take the photos, but you may wear your schools' colors." Akashi explained. "But we don't have to worry about it just yet. The topic you were discussing simply made for a good opportunity to warn everyone that it's going to happen so you can get used to the idea. The actual photo shoot won't occur until we are almost ready to start playing in real games."

"The warning is appreciated." Midorima admitted.

"I know," Akashi responded simply, "But we should get players on the court again. I would like Taiga, Tatsuya, and Daiki to sit this one out, and I'm taking myself out as well. To replace us I would like Atsushi, Tetsuya, Ryou, and Ryouta to step in." He decided. "Split up with Tetsuya, Ryouta, and Kazunari on one side, with Atsushi, Yukio, and Ryou on the other. There are no special requirements, just like earlier you have twenty minutes, but it is a straightforward competition to see who can get the most points."

Kise was the first to charge off the bench, the other five following his lead with Murasakibara the last out stifling a yawn.

The pep talk from earlier had Kise back to his usual enthusiastic self, and he rounded on his teammates, specifically Takao, "If you want me to I can play like Midorimacchi to make it easier for you to follow?" He offered.

"No, don't do that. I want you to play like yourself I'll keep up," Takao didn't want special treatment. "Just because you can copy Shin-chan doesn't mean you should, or any of them for that matter. Use whatever you find that works best for you, not just mimicking everything you see."

"Alright, I can do that." Kise assured with a near blindingly bright grin.

"Let's play well Kise-Kun, Takao-kun," Kuroko added as they lined up for the tip off.

Over on the bleachers the trained eyes of the other Miracles plus Kagami and Himuro were locked onto the court. "I like the teams you chose Akashi," Midorima approved, "One weighted towards defense with Murasakibara, and the other offense with Kise. This is going to be interesting."

"I thought so," Akashi was a little distracted in answering, as he was watching the movement on the court attentively, looking for the strengths of the players and where they had room for improvement. "Yukio is fast, you may want to work with him Daiki I can see his reflexes becoming much like yours. Kazunari is mine to teach. He has a good amount of skill, I can help him hone his gift even sharper. Tetsuya can help with that I believe. Also I like Daiki's suggestion from earlier, Ryou needs a little guidance. Lots of potential there but he's barely tapped into what could be possible for him, and he's by no means playing badly. Ryouta and Tetsuya are improving as well as I thought they would, but they do still need stamina training. Atsushi needs to practice more as usual, Ryouta should not have made that shot."

"You can tell all that in five minutes of watching?" Himuro asked curiously, hiding his immediate reaction of wanting to gape like a goldfish.

"Doesn't usually take so long, but there are more new players here than I normally evaluate at any given time," Akashi did answer the question fully, but he was still absorbed in the game. "My players though, I just have to update what I already know, makes it a bit easier."

"…So what about Tatsuya and me?" Kagami made himself ask, Akashi was still intimidating, but he wasn't as downright terrifying anymore. It was too good an opportunity to waste.

Akashi responded to him without pause, expecting the question to come sooner or later. "Your teamwork is very good, both of you play much better with a supporting person backing you up. For you Taiga that is Tetsuya, and Atsushi is yours Tatsuya. Though I believe you have already discovered that you need to increase individual skill to make your teamwork even more fluid.

"Tatsuya, you have skill with trick shots. You can manage similar deceptions as Tetsuya, focus on learning more of those. Shintaro can help you with that, his method could be altered to better suite your own style and give you an advantage. Also Daiki might be able to show you a few things. The more tricks you learn the better, and I suspect you will pick it up quickly with how sharp your reflexes have become already.

"Taiga, you have nearly maxed out your range in the air. You have encountered the need to use a variety of different shots to increase the threat of your jumps, and that will only become more important as time passes to help you extend the limits of your talent. I suggest you observe all the training sessions given by and for the shooting guards, also pay attention to the point guards like myself. Extend your mastery of the court to both the air and the ground, it will make you harder to predict, and like Daiki proves that is one thing that can only help a power forward." He had been keeping close tabs on both of them long before this, their potential catching his eye.

They had managed to sync up with two of the more dangerous of his players. Kuroko had always been a dark horse of sorts, but to be his Light to the fullest extent took an exceptional amount of effort. Also once a player learned of Murasakibara's skill on offense they were typically too intimidated to actually be any use to him in a game. He was intimidating enough just on defense when he wasn't really trying.

"So why twenty minutes for all the challenges?" That was actually Aomine, fifteen he could understand because that was the length of a basketball quarter, twenty just didn't fit.

"Simple. I warned everyone before we started that I was already going to be working on endurance." Akashi responded as the match in front of them was drawing to a close. "Just lasting one quarter is not enough, you encounter a more challenging team and you will run out of energy before it is over. If you can last that extra five minutes in practice that will make you all the more powerful in the shorter amount of time in an actual game. You said it yourself earlier that Ryouta only needed to last a few minutes longer, this is to give all of you that little bit of extra time."

"Speaking of all of us, what are people thinking about doing for food?" Kagami couldn't help it, he was starving after expending so much energy on the court.

"Something fast would be good for those of us that need to catch trains," Himuro pointed out.

"You assume everyone wants to come?" Midorima wasn't sure if he felt irritated for the assumption or gratitude at being automatically included in future plans.

"I'm willing to bet all of us are hungry, and we are already in a group, might as well grab something to eat together." Kagami responded logically as the game came to an end in front of them.

"If we do that we should call ahead," Himuro warned seriously, "If you have ever seen Taiga or Atsushi eat you should know they can keep up with each other."

"Hey!" Kagami immediately objected. "I may eat a lot, but you do too! You can almost match me if you feel like it."

Himuro's cheeks turned a bit pink. "I never said I didn't."

Midorima stepped in before the brothers could embarrass each other further, "That idea of calling ahead is a good one should everyone agree to this. Aomine and Kise can eat a lot too."

"I do, but Kise doesn't usually eat a ton of grease." Aomine reminded, not bothered by what Midorima said. It was true after all.

"Not normally no," Midorima agreed, "But he's been playing hard, we all have, it would be best to order extra."

"Did I hear you guys talking about food?" Kise asked hopefully.

"Yeah," The Seirin power forward answered, "Just figuring out where to go and who's coming. Tatsuya had a point in suggesting something fast, and that we should call ahead. I was the one to guess everyone would probably want to eat and we may as well go together."

"Sounds like Maji then, I wouldn't object to that." Kise approved, "Anyone have a problem with it?"

No one objected making Himuro ask, "Does anyone have the number so we can call in the order?"

Before Himuro had even finished speaking Kagami was reaching for his little used cellphone. "How much should I order?"

"Some are going to eat a lot more than others, I suggest averaging it out to at least five burgers and an order of fries for each of us." Midorima had witnessed the majority of them eating at one time or another, especially those he had observed directly after playing, they would definitely need a large order. "Drinks we can leave to order once we get there."

Akashi interrupted before Kagami could make the call, "Do not include me. I will join you at the restaurant, but I do not eat fast food. I would like to spend more time with my team though."

Kagami shrugged, "If you say so, but there should be enough for you to have some if you change your mind."

Akashi raised an eyebrow imperiously, "Not likely, I have yet to eat any of it, and I doubt I will start now."

Kagami looked truly startled, "Wait a second, you've never had it? Not even once?" Both Kagami and his brother just barely managed to keep from looking at Akashi like he was an alien. Aomine didn't even try to avoid that response, but the other Miracles didn't look surprised.

"No, I haven't, hamburgers are too unhealthy when slathered with grease and dredged in salt. I have been on a very strict diet to optimize performance since I was a child, father didn't want me to be any less than what was possible to achieve." Akashi explained.

"Oh, so it's your father's rule?" It was starting to make a little more sense to the Seirin player, but he was still having some trouble wrapping his head around it.

"Taiga, shouldn't you be calling the restaurant? They are probably going to need as much time as they can get to finish such a huge order." Himuro sensed his brother's impending doom if he continued to press Akashi so he attempted to distract him.

Kagami visibly shook himself out of his shock, and dialed the number.

A little over half an hour later the group of players reached the restaurant. Four large trays of food were waiting for them, and as they divided the cost among themselves the workers stared at them with wide eyes, both from the extreme amount of food being handed over and the fact some of them recognized the Generation of Miracles players and were not prepared to see every single one of them at the same time.

They had to pull a few tables together to make room for all of them, the restaurant allowing it since they had bought so much. One side had Murasakibara, Kasamatsu, Takao, Midorima, and Kagami in that order, the other had Himuro, Sakurai, Kise, Aomine, and Kuroko. Akashi had pulled a chair to the head of the table in front of Kagami and Kuroko.

Covered by the chatter going on Kuroko turned to Akashi, "Try this Akashi-kun," He offered, sliding his cup of vanilla shake over to the point guard.

"What is it?" He looked at the cup suspiciously, not making any move to take it.

"It's a milkshake, a lot of vitamins and a little protein, go ahead," Kuroko knew the only way to get him to take a sip would be to explain the health benefits while leaving out the parts about sugar and calories.

Looking around a moment to make sure everyone was sufficiently distracted, he finally reached out to pick up the cup and took a short sip.

Much like Kuroko, Akashi hid his reactions the best he could normally. This time he couldn't stop the widened eyes as he immediately took another longer drink.

"You like it?" Kuroko was doing everything but laugh at the reaction, earning himself a glare. Akashi knew how to read the shadow well enough to know what was going through his head in that moment.

"It's passable," He responded calmly, sliding the cup back to Kuroko before he could potentially embarrass himself further.

"You can have it if you want, I can get another." Kuroko offered, still amused but doing a better job of covering it up.

"No, that's all right." Akashi replied a bit too quickly to be considered completely composed.

"Hey, Akashi, catch." Without thinking about it Akashi reflexively caught the object Kagami had tossed to him, looking down at his hand to discover a wrapped hamburger. "One isn't going to kill you." Kagami explained, he may have eavesdropped on his conversation with Kuroko, and figured this slightly mellowed out version of the feared player might be persuaded into doing something human for once.

Akashi looked slowly between the hamburger and Kagami, then glanced out of the corner of his eye at Kuroko who made a small shooing gesture with his hand telling him to go ahead and do it.

He unwrapped the unfamiliar to him food almost cautiously, after picking it up he actually hesitated a moment before taking a small bite, more like a nibble really but no one would be suicidal enough to refer to anything Akashi did so childishly.

By now everyone had noticed what was going on between the people at the head of the table and were curious to see the Captain's reaction. To their amusement Akashi had barely swallowed the first bite before taking another, and another after that just as quickly; the amounts getting progressively larger as he ate.

Kagami was grinning like the cat that caught the canary, a look mirrored on Kise and Aomine's faces, the Seirin ace grabbed Akashi's attention again. "I knew you would like it."

To their surprise all he did was look up and glare before going back to eating neatly but quickly.

"Akashicchi, you might not want to eat much more than that one," Kise decided to warn him when he was finishing off the last bite. "If you aren't used to this kind of food it can make you sick if you eat too much or too quickly. I have to be careful too." He had been cautiously pacing himself while they ate. His diet wasn't quite as strict as Akashi's but his job and basketball demanded he take care of himself and look his best.

Akashi managed to keep the regretful look off his face, but Kuroko was able to tell that was exactly what he was feeling. "You can have more of this Akashi-kun, it won't cause as bad of a reaction." Kuroko slid his cup back over to Akashi, he was another one who didn't tolerate grease well, his vanilla shakes were his guilty pleasure of choice.

Wisely no one commented as the shadow and red king passed the cup back and forth between them, while lively conversation broke out again. The mixture of laughter, talk, and near friendly insults –that last one mostly the fault of Kagami, Kise, and Aomine- made for a fun ending to a day of playing basketball together.

Both Kuroko and Akashi had identical smiles of pleasure on their faces at seeing how far their old team had come in healing while including the new additions into their ranks seamlessly. They weren't an exclusive club anymore, when Kagami and Kuroko had shattered their world to bits it was simply to make room for this kind of playful comradery. Basketball was fun again because of the people they were playing with and for them their was no better gift.


	8. Let The Sparks Fly

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Well that escalated quickly...

Chapter Eight

Let The Sparks Fly

Kagami leapt into the air, launching the basketball in a smooth arc, and with a satisfying swoosh the ball landed in the net without touching the rim and he threw his arm up and let out a loud whoop.

So what was so special? That wasn't a dunk. He was practicing three pointers and that was the tenth shot in a row to make it into the basket. Akashi had been right, but Kagami knew enough about him to not be surprised at that. The former Teiko Captain had noticed right off that Kagami had mastered the air when it came to shooting up close but get him further away and his shooting percentage went down to about sixty; zone not included because that was a very special case that didn't happen often. Sixty was pretty good in general but it could be better. Hyuuga in clutch mode had a shooting percentage of right around eighty, and last he looked at Midorima's stats he was easily sitting at ninety-five percent; as far as he could tell the only time the prodigious shooting guard ever missed was when playing against the other Miracles.

A second later Izuki paused in his dribbling drills to give Kagami a high-five before continuing. They were all working on the basics once again. All their hard won new skills would mean nothing if they let the foundations get rusty.

"Good work Kagami-kun," Kuroko's calm voice coming out of nowhere made Kagami practically jump out of his skin, turning to glare at his Shadow standing just behind his right shoulder.

"Stop doing that!" He ordered, hackles raised, "You're going to give someone a heart attack one of these days."

Kuroko shrugged slightly, "That's not my intention, though if your heart is so weak that can cause it to stop maybe you should take a break from basketball." He shot right back. It was true, he would never push someone over the edge; all the players he knew were highly conditioned. To be honest Kuroko himself had the worst health of the bunch.

Kagami rubbed the back of his neck guiltily, "It still sucks!" He insisted. "Plus, from what Midorima said you do that on purpose. Is it really that fun?"

The faintest hint of a blush reddened the tips of Kuroko's ears, "…I need the practice." He eventually admitted.

"And we just happen to be your guinea pigs?" Kagami accused, crossing his arms in front of his chest and glaring at Kuroko.

"Who better to practice on? If it works on the people closest to me, then it is even stronger against someone who has never played me," Kuroko explained logically, he wasn't going to admit that yes he found it fun to see people jump. It was the little things that made him happy. It was their fault for not seeing him in the first place as far as he was concerned.

"Kagami! Kuroko! If you two have time to stand there and talk you aren't practicing enough!" Hyuuga called over to them. He was doing the exact opposite training as Kagami on the other side of the gym and working on his inside shooting with Mitobe defending the hoop.

The others were working on passing and dribbling at high speeds, their usual run and gun style, but there was a constant effort to get faster and more efficient.

Both shadow and light nodded in understanding before Kagami offered, "Wanna go one-on-one?"

"Sure," Kuroko agreed, gathering the ball Kagami had been using to practice his shots.

Riko had been listening and came over to get them started, "Have at it." She ordered before throwing the ball in the air between her two kouhai.

Unsurprisingly Kagami took control of the ball but didn't make it two steps before Kuroko was stealing the ball from him, pivoting back on his right foot and shooting towards the hoop.

The phantom shot bounced off the rim, Kagami leaping up to snatch the rebound before landing for a heartbeat then launching himself into the air. The ball swished through the hoop, only for it to be knocked out of the way by Kiyoshi, the older player grinning like mad at the irritated glower Kagami showed.

"Can't let you two have all the fun," He responded, Izuki and Koganei flanking him as he spoke. "How about another game of seniors vs juniors for old time's sake?" He suggested.

"That's not a bad idea," Riko decided, having listened to the interaction ever since Kiyoshi interfered with Kagami and Kuroko's game. She would normally have pulled Kiyoshi from participating in something like that, his knees had only been getting worse in the last month, but his surgery was scheduled for the next week and she knew he wanted to spend as much time on the court as he could before he would have to leave.

With that she called everyone together and explained what was going on, getting an enthusiastic response. Furihata, Fukuda, and Kawahara were the ones grinning the widest considering it was rare to get to play with all the first stringers at once.

After a heart pounding half hour Riko called the match with the juniors ahead by a hair due to both Kiyoshi and Kuroko losing too much ground to be safe playing longer. "Good work, you have all improved well." She praised looking over her boys with pride as they toweled off sweat and guzzled water or sports drink all with smiles on their faces. "You've earned a break I'm going to let you go early tonight, at least attempt to get some rest or catch up on homework," She ordered knowing if she didn't then at least half the boys would find themselves on a street court before the night was over, and she doubted Kagami could resist even with her advice.

The boys practically raced for the locker room, the rare reprieve spurring them to react before Riko had a chance to change her mind. Not twenty minutes later Kagami and Kuroko were saying goodbye to their teammates and headed out onto still light streets. It was rare to get out before dark so the change was noticeable.

"Well what do you say Kuroko, want to go to the court?" Kagami proved Riko right almost immediately.

"Coach could get mad at us for playing when she gave us time off," Kuroko pointed out remembering the day the first years all went to the streetball tournament together, Riko hadn't exactly been thrilled with their disobedience though she did end up letting them go eventually.

"Oh come on, she won't be that mad, I want to play more." Kagami attempted to coerce his shadow into going along with his idea.

Kuroko sighed quietly, shaking his head and smiling softly, remembering a few times in the past he had nearly identical conversations with his previous Lights, "Alright Kagami-kun let's go play." He finally gave in, only to be rewarded with a blinding grin from Kagami.

Kuroko did not choose him to be his Light so he could replace Aomine or any of the others, he did it because he saw in Kagami the kind of strength and love for basketball that would allow him to become the rival they all craved. He wasn't a replacement, he was an addition.

It didn't take long to pick up a ball and head to their favorite spot, only it wasn't empty like usual, this early in the day other players were gathered under the nets laughing and challenging one another.

"Still want to play?" Kuroko asked upon seeing the gathered crowd of both players and watchers.

An enthusiastic nod answered his question plus, "Oh definitely, these can be some of the best games." He remembered long days in America spent playing basketball just like what was in front of them.

He never saw Kuroko dig out his phone again, hey opportunities like this didn't happen every day.

Thanks to winning the Winter Cup their Seirin bags caught the attention of a few others on the court, seeing Kagami in particular had looks of awe on some of their faces. Unlike the more arrogant Miracles the duo was looked on with admiration instead of fear, they had managed something no other team had done by knocking them off their pedestal.

"Do you want this court, we can use the other side if you want?" A boy about half way between Kuroko and Kagami's height asked as the duo reached the now interrupted game.

"No, we want to play together with you guys, finish your game and we'll play the winners." Kagami replied immediately, he didn't want to force anyone off the court when they were obviously having fun.

"Alright," He agreed immediately with a grin showing on his face. He jogged back to his teammates to explain what was going on and the game resumed soon after.

Kagami and Kuroko just stood back and watched the free form playing, movements that held shades of Aomine's skills. They could definitely see where he picked up his unorthodox style. Kagami really had missed this kind of thing, by the time practice was usually done the street ball games were over and the pair had the court mostly to themselves.

When that game ended, they were approached by a few of the guys that were already playing, and they just about begged to have the two notorious players join in with their teams instead of merely playing against them. They wanted to see if they could keep up, and maybe learn something.

Kagami and Kuroko split up, each going to the side that wanted them the most. It was a good match up too as Kagami's team had needed the extra offense while the opposite was true of Kuroko's. About a half hour into the game a third familiar face approached.

"Senpai, how did you know where we were?" Kagami asked in happy confusion.

"Kuroko messaged me," Izuki responded with a grin. "Thought I would join in the fun, I missed the last time you went to the court as a group."

"Well you have good timing, it's about time for Kuroko to step out for a while," And that statement right there was an example of how closely Kagami watched his shadow. If even Riko had trouble telling when Kuroko was reaching his limit, then Kagami's ability was truly something to be proud of.

"You going to be okay Kuroko?" Izuki asked his Kouhai; just as worried about their smallest player as the other soon to be third years. At 5'6 Kuroko wasn't short by normal standards, three inches taller than Riko, but put him in a group of basketball players that approached or surpassed 6 foot and he looked positively tiny.

"I'm fine Senpai," He assured, no matter how hard his breath came or how painful it was to move, he would always be fine. Nothing compared to the pain wrought by the three championships that tore his old team apart and injured both himself and his Lights so thoroughly; and they wondered why he didn't say anything until he collapsed onto the court.

To his credit it didn't look like Izuki entirely believed him, but didn't call him on it for now, instead he turned to the other players that had paused in their game when Kuroko and Kagami requested a break to talk to their Senpai. No objections were raised as several of them were on the edge of passing out from throwing their hearts into the game. "Hey would you mind if I stepped in for Kuroko for a game?"

"Give us a few minutes, then sure," The boy who first approached Kagami and Kuroko answered, he had been acting as an informal Captain on the court and was pretty good at it too.

The need for a longer break was obvious, everyone was smiling, but sweat was running down faces and many a shirt had been thrown off thanks to being hopelessly soaked through and clinging to skin.

"How long have you been playing?" Izuki asked, looking over the group in concern. It wasn't good to get so worn down.

"I've been here since school let out," The same boy answered, "The others filtered in a little later, and your teammates got here about half an hour ago."

"It sounds like it should be a long break then, don't push yourselves so hard you get hurt." He advised.

Another tired but excited grin, "It's not that bad, this has been great and we want to keep at it, or at least I know I do." The other street ball players heard him and nodded in agreement.

"Oh I wasn't going to make you stop, but you need time to recuperate a bit, our coach always yells at us if we go too long without taking care of ourselves," Izuki explained. He enjoyed his jokes, but he did care about other players and did his best to make sure they stayed safe. He never wanted to see another injury like Kiyoshi's ever again.

"Alright," He finally agreed, seeing the truth in Izuki's words.

With that settled it left the three Seirin players with the chance to talk. "Hey Kuroko I know Kagami grew up with this in America, but did you ever get to play street ball much?"

"Yes," They thought the short answer was all they would get because of the long pause between it and Kuroko's eventual continuation. "I started out with it, though I was never very good. I had a friend in elementary school that encouraged me and when I got into Teiko I decided to join the basketball club so I might get to play him again. I nearly got kicked off even the third string before Aomine-kun discovered me, and from there Akashi-kun got involved. During the first year or two, all the first string players would get together on a street court every once in a while to practice. It was fun."

"So that's what the other day was about, you were trying to get some of that back?" Kagami figured out.

His Shadow nodded, "Yes. I knew it was what we needed. Those were my favorite times at Teiko, it wasn't about winning or losing, it was just about us. I wanted them to see that even though things have changed and we have new teams and different bonds, it can still be that way."

"So you aren't just trying to recreate the old team?" Izuki asked curiously, he wasn't accusing Kuroko of anything bad, he knew the generation of miracles had been a very important group of people to him that he had an understandable reason to try and reform them. He just wanted to understand the truth.

"Of course not, we split apart for a reason," Kuroko reminded. "We need our new teams, and the friends we've made. It keeps us grounded and focused. I want to see all of us playing together not just the Miracles. You, Kagami-kun, Takao-kun, Kasamatsu-san, Himuro-kun, and Sakurai-kun are good people and you love basketball with all you have, the rest of the Miracles need to see that and get some of it back for themselves. Akashi-kun had his family start the charity so he could get people to love basketball, but that was for us as much as the people watching. I don't want the team back that steamrolled other strong teams without a single regret, instead I want to create something new."

"I don't know it still sounds to me like you are trying to get the Miracles to act like they did at Teiko again," Kagami considered. "It's not the team we know that you want, it was what you first started out as."

"Yes and no," He finally admitted. "I want the people I knew back. They were so much happier and less arrogant before we started winning so much. I meant what I said though, I don't want that team again, not even what we began as. It was broken and messed up, we ended up hurting a lot of people including ourselves. I won't let that happen anymore. I think everyone needs to realize this showcase is set up so it really doesn't matter who wins, it is how we play the game. Take out the pressure to be the best and it is just a few friends out on a court playing the sport we love, that's the way it is supposed to be."

"So what are they really like? If you're trying so hard to get them back to that point they must be pretty interesting," Izuki commented, glancing over at the others on the court and seeing they still had a little time before they would be up to playing again.

"In a word? They're all dorks." The statement said with such serious voice and expression had Kagami and Izuki taking a moment to figure out what he said before laughing near hysterically.

Even Kuroko ended up smiling as he thought of their idiosyncrasies, "Aomine-kun actually likes catching bugs and has this thing with dirty magazines. He is also very gullible and easily distracted; Momoi-kun uses that to get him to go places he doesn't want to. When we played Kirisaki they managed to catch him in a trap and literally dragged him there in a sack.

"There isn't much I can say about Midorima-kun that you don't already know, except that there was a folder in the locker room filled with pictures of the more embarrassing lucky items that Haizaki-kun, Aomine-kun, and later Kise-kun used to blackmail him into helping them do their homework. No matter how much he tries to act serious it is obvious he isn't when his favorite lucky item is a little toy frog, and that's because it matches his hair; he even named it.

"Murasakibara-kun doesn't even try to hide that he is nothing but a really big kid, though the thing about him is he gets away with his actions more than the others, we don't bother calling him on it since he won't change even if we do. There isn't any harm in what he does, and in school he gets really good grades so Akashi-kun doesn't feel like he has to put a stop to it.

"Kise-kun tries too hard, he is the opposite of the others where he acts more like an idiot than he actually is. We do like him, but when he acts the way he does it makes us not want to admit it. If he calmed down and just let us be around him without the clinging he would understand what makes us tease him so much. I know I hurt him by rejecting his claims of us being closer than we are to the others, but I'm doing it because I want Kise-kun to realize I am not his best friend on the team for the simple fact we were all friends so singling one of us out is a little insulting. I would say the same about Aomine-kun, but I know Kise-kun probably wouldn't believe that.

"As for Akashi-kun, well, you saw him at the restaurant Kagami-kun. He acts high and mighty, and most of the time that is real, but there is something you should know. It is not his choice to act like that, his father is a very controlling person. I can only imagine what kind of things Akashi-kun had to have said to persuade him into founding this charity. There is a reason Akashi-kun and Murasakibara-kun get along so well. As far as maturity goes they are pretty even because Akashi-kun has never been allowed to act in a way that does not suit his family name. Since he never had to make his own decisions he is not very good at it.

"When we all get together it can either bring out the best or the worst parts of us, and as the other day proved, I am working towards making sure it is our good side that shows." The quirks each had made them who they were, and Kuroko had been missing that for a very long time now.

Kagami and Izuki thought it over, but Izuki was the first to comment, "That makes a lot of sense to me actually. All of you were so talented you were forced into fame before you really had a chance to get to know yourselves. I can see how that would change the people you just described into the ones we met at the Inter-High and Winter Cup."

"Am I right in saying they are already coming back around?" Kagami asked, getting a nod.

"Yes," Kuroko agreed, "Having them come to Seirin a few at a time helped me realize they are making an honest effort to understand what went wrong at Teiko. Especially with Kise-kun and Midorima-kun, they needed someone to help drag them out of their comfort zone, Kasamatsu-san is slowly teaching Kise-kun how to control himself, and Takao-kun is helping Midorima-kun understand that real friends will stick by him no matter how odd he is as long as he returns the favor."

Kagami then made another comment that proved he could be perceptive when he wanted to be, "Yeah Takao and Kasamatsu helped Kise and Midorima, that even I could see, but they aren't the ones who needed the most help. It was you who showed Akashi what it was like to be normal."

A slow nod, and this time it was the older player that realized his Kouhai needed saving from embarrassment, "Well now I really regret not being able to come last time, I hope the next time you all get together there is enough warning I can get there."

"I apologize for the short notice Senpai, I hadn't really thought it out until people started coming around and it only all came together when Kagami-kun started worrying about meeting up with Himuro-kun and Murasakibara-kun." Kuroko was truly apologetic about that, he wanted everyone there.

"Don't worry, by the sounds of it there are going to be a lot more weekends like that one, I will get my turn." Izuki assured just as their opponents came back over to them ready to start playing again.

They took turns switching in and out, going to different sides when they were asked, and teaching what they could while learning a thing or two themselves. Memories old and new came flooding back to Kuroko and Kagami, Izuki watching them with a calm happy expression, the synchronicity between the two of them had never been more apparent. Remembering the past only made the present shine brighter.

By the time the sun went down and everyone was ready to start leaving Izuki, Kagami, and Kuroko were all feeling hungry, but ran into the ever occurring problem of not having quite enough money to go out together, so it was Kagami that suggested, "I have enough to make dinner for us at my place if you want?"

"As long as we have time to catch the last bus afterwards I don't mind," Izuki was all for it.

"I think you should," Kagami judged, "So Kuroko, do you want to come?"

"Yes Kagami-kun, thank you for inviting us," He responded formally.

From there Kagami lead them to his apartment, only for them to find it hadn't changed a bit since the time during the Winter Cup, Kuroko wasn't even completely sure they were different magazines scattered around. One thing he could say for him, considering he was a teenage jock living alone, Kagami's place was surprisingly clean.

"You can come into the kitchen with me or stay out here if you want," Kagami offered while dropping his bag next to the door the others following suit.

A quick look between senior and junior and Izuki answered for the both of them, "We'll come with you. What were you going to make?"

"Just a stir fry, makes a lot of food fast," Kagami answered while heading into the kitchen to start digging out ingredients.

He put Kuroko and Izuki to work helping to prep vegetables while he heated up the wok and got the rice started. As he had proven during the deadly curry debacle back in summer he was a surprisingly good cook that knew what he was doing to put together a quick meal so they were soon gathered around the low table in the living room with a heaping platter of food between them.

"So Kagami, what else do you like to cook?" Izuki asked curiously between bites.

"I usually make western food, but Japanese is quicker most of the time," Kagami's portion was twice as big as the other two and he was nowhere near done yet.

"Is there anything you miss from America that you can't get here?" This was Kuroko asking.

He thought about it a minute, "LA has a lot of good Mexican food, we can get some of it here but if I want it to taste the way I remember I need to make it myself."

Izuki commented again, "I don't think I've had that before, or at least if I have I didn't know what it was."

"Next time if I have everything for it I'll make some for you. There are a lot of different things that I know how to make so it just depends on what I have." He promised.

"Can you speak Spanish? That's common there isn't it?" Kuroko tried to learn what he could about where his Light grew up, and that was something he had run into.

"Depends on which part of Los Angeles you're in, I speak a little, but my Spanish is way worse than my English and you've seen my grades," He reminded. "Tatsuya was better at it, though he always had higher grades than I did no matter what it was."

From there Kagami was pressured into telling more stories about America and playing basketball with his brother and Alex. They were fun times and as he went through them it reminded him why it had been so hard to let the promise between them go so they could play all out. He found himself playing with the ring around his neck, glad it was still there and that he had worked out the issues with Tatsuya so they could call themselves brothers again.

Eventually it was time for his guests to pack up and head home, but Kuroko heard his phone beep with an incoming message, reading it he discovered it was from his mother telling him that his parents would not make it back home from their business meeting and had decided to stay in a hotel for the night.

When he answered the inquiry from Izuki about the message, Kagami made an impulsive offer, "Do you want to stay here tonight so you're not alone?"

That gave Kuroko pause, "But isn't Kagami-kun alone here all the time?"

"Just because I am doesn't mean you have to be. There is plenty of room here and your house is easy to stop at from here in the morning on the way to school so you can get ready." Even Kagami wasn't quite sure why he was pressing the point so hard, but he felt his heart starting to pound and the back of his neck was beginning to redden with an oncoming blush. His racing heart only beat harder as he saw the Shadow lower his bag back to the ground and slip out of his shoes once more. To keep from giving away his current almost embarrassingly sappy reaction he addressed Izuki, "If you want to stay too you can Senpai."

You couldn't pay Izuki enough to stay, he was not going to interrupt the interesting development unfolding in front of him. "Not this time, my house is further than Kuroko's I would have to get up way earlier if I wanted to get to school on time. You two have fun." It took everything he had not to put too much emphasis on the have fun part. He knew the moment he stepped out of the door he would be on the phone to Hyuuga and Kiyoshi, telling them the latest event happening with their Kouhai.

Kuroko responded first, "Good night Senpai, see you at practice tomorrow."

"Yeah, good night." Kagami echoed, busying himself with clearing the dishes from dinner, this time having to hide a bit of excitement. He had just set them in the sink and turned the water on hot and adding soap when he felt Kuroko's shoulder bumping into him, Kagami thought it was an improvement that he only jumped instead of letting out the shriek he had been very tempted to do.

"I'll help with the dishes to thank you for cooking and letting me stay," Kuroko pretended not to notice that his Light was acting unusual. He wouldn't say anything about it unless Kagami did.

"Thanks," Kagami replied shortly, turning off the faucet and grabbing a dish cloth, only to realize in his distraction a large pile of soap bubbles had built up on the water. He hid his mischievous smile by turning his head, and then flicked some of the suds at Kuroko hitting him in the cheek.

In less than a second Kuroko was retaliating, scooping up bubbles and tossing them at his Light. The ensuing water fight had both Light and Shadow laughing and left them breathless, coated in soapy water. The dishes were still dirty, but Kagami couldn't get himself to care as the two of them collapsed to the floor of his kitchen trying to catch their breath, looking over to see a small smile on Kuroko's face.

"Kuroko, look at me," He requested suddenly, Kuroko obeying without thinking about it, only to meet Kagami's lips with his own. It was short and light, not even giving him enough time to work through his shock before Kagami pulled away looking both happy and terrified. "I'm sorry, I, I don't know why I did that. If you want to leave now I'll pay for a cab." He muttered, turning away so he didn't have to see the disgusted look his Shadow was probably sending his way.

Kuroko put a hand on Kagami's shoulder, his Light slowly responding by turning scared and hopeful red eyes his way, "I'm not mad." He assured and barely a heartbeat later Kagami had turned and grabbed him up in a tight hug, holding his lighter frame against his heavily muscled body.

"Thank you, thank you," He murmured softly, "I didn't know how to tell you, but tonight, the way you laughed and smiled I just couldn't help it." He loosened his grip so he could look at Kuroko's sky blue eyes. "If you don't want anything with me, I understand. I don't want to make you do anything you don't want. I should have asked before I kissed you."

Kuroko deadpanned, and responded without emotion, "You're right you should have asked." He felt Kagami tense and almost pull away before showing him a smile, "Because if you had it would have been a better kiss."

Now it was Kagami's turn to grin, pulling him close again and putting his hand under Kuroko's chin to tilt his head up for another kiss, this one lingering longer but still mostly innocent. As they broke apart Kuroko laid his head on Kagami's chest saying, "That's better."

That night they shared Kagami's bed, only sleeping, but it felt good to Kuroko to be wrapped up in his Light's arms. They had a lot to talk about, but they had made the first step into having that important conversation.

XXXXXXX

To say Himuro Tatsuya was annoyed when he was woken an hour before his alarm was supposed to go off by his chiming phone was an understatement. With an annoyed grumble he groped at the bedside table until he found the offending device.

"This had better be important," He muttered to himself, definitely not a morning person.

It was from his brother. 'I know it's early, sorry, but I needed to tell someone and I trust you. I kissed Kuroko last night, and he stayed over. I swear we just slept, but well, I really like him. I don't know what I'm doing anymore.'

That had Himuro rising up suddenly in his bed, startled into full wakefulness. He wasn't entirely surprised that Kagami had fallen for Kuroko, but he didn't need to hear his brother's voice to notice the underlying panic. He had jumped ahead of himself again.

Himuro dialed a different number quickly, waiting what felt like forever for another sleep muffled voice to answer, "Muro-chin? Watssa Matter?" There was a huge yawn interrupting and slurring Murasakibara's words.

"Atsushi, I need you to tell coach I'm sorry but I can't come to practice today. I have to go take care of something important at Seirin, family emergency." He spoke urgently, hoping the tone would shake his large friend from his drowsiness.

It seemed to work because the response was much clearer, "Is something wrong with Kaga-chin?"

"Yes, I want to get there as soon as I can," Himuro insisted, "And please, I need Kuroko's number."

There was rustling and the squeaking of a mattress protesting the movement of a large amount of weight on the other end of the phone, "If it involves Kuro-chin, I'm coming with you." Murasakibara decided after dragging himself out of bed.

"Coach will not be happy if we both miss practice," Himuro pointed out, now hearing the sliding of dresser drawers opening.

"We're going to Kuro-chin's school right? We'll play with them, that way she can't say we skipped." He might be child-like, but it was normal for children to worry about their friends.

"Fine, I can get to the station in an hour, see you when you get there." Himuro figured if he was going to insist on coming then maybe he would turn out to be useful. Murasakibara could distract Kagami so he would have a chance to talk to Kuroko. There were things he needed to know that Kagami would find it hard to talk about, and something a big brother did was make sure their little brother didn't ruin something good for them because they panicked.


	9. All I Need To Know

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Big brother to the rescue!

Chapter Nine

All I Need To Know

One long train ride, three wrong turns, and a stop for lunch with another couple stops for more snacks later and the Yosen duo finally managed to make it to Seirin a few hours before classes would be over. A bit more trial and error had them finding the gym, sitting on the front steps waiting for the basketball club to arrive for practice. Himuro taking the opportunity to call their coach and explain enough of what was going on he knew they were in for a rant when they got back to Yosen, but she wasn't so mad she would use her bamboo sword to turn them into living piñatas.

Himuro wasn't sure how much of a coincidence it was that both himself and his brother had ended up on teams coached by women. Alex had been a large influence on them, she was practically their mother, and while a lot of male athletes he knew had trouble getting used to a female coach, Kagami and him hadn't had that problem.

The wait was a bit boring, but ended up being worth it to see the shock on Kagami's face at seeing the two of them calmly sitting in front of their gym.

"What are you doing here?" He asked with a wide happy grin once the surprise had worked itself out of his system.

"We were in the neighborhood and decided to stop by," Himuro responded calmly, rising from the steps and swinging his bag up on his shoulder before turning to Hyuuga and Riko, "Hope you don't mind a few extras at your practice today." He spoke respectfully.

Riko nodded, "We don't mind, but you're the first ones to come without me setting up a meeting, did your coach or Akashi-kun ask you to come today?" It was unusual for a team to show up at another school without a formal invitation, the only ones she could see ordering it were either the coach of Yosen or the still slightly feared captain of Rakuzan.

"Ah no, we are probably going to get yelled at when we get back," Himuro admitted, "But we wanted to come and at least if you allow us to join you we won't be considered actually skipping practice."

"Wait, if you made it here already that means you did skip school," Hyuuga accused, there was nothing particularly important about that day to suggest they had sanctioned time off.

This time Murasakibara answered with a shrug, "Muro-chin and I haven't missed anything before this, we can handle a day."

"It's good to see you again Murasakibara-kun, Himuro-kun," Kuroko greeted coming up to stand beside Kagami, hiding a smile at the wide-eyed look shown his way from the dark haired brother, but his former teammate didn't outwardly react. Murasakibara might not always know exactly where Kuroko was, but he was used to him popping up out of nowhere so he was less apt to jump, it was just too much effort.

"Hello Kuro-chin," Murasakibara responded, before taking another bite of his maiubo.

"Well you might as well come in if you're here anyway," Hyuuga gave in, resisting the urge to facepalm. These juniors were going to be the death of him, and most of the truly difficult ones shouldn't even have been his responsibility to look after, but someone had to keep them from getting into too much trouble. It didn't help his headache that in this situation one of the 'kids' was the same age as him.

With all the noise everyone was making piling into the gym, Kagami was able to talk to his brother in a very quiet voice, "Why are you really here?"

"Because you needed me to be," Himuro responded, "Or you wouldn't have contacted me at four in the morning."

Kagami rubbed at the back of his reddening neck, just knowing if the reaction was spotted he would be questioned and potentially thoroughly humiliated. "Ah, yeah, sorry."

"I think the words you are looking for are thank you. Don't worry, I'll make sure you don't screw up too badly." Himuro teased watching the red keep creeping up to spread to Kagami's cheeks this time in irritation, barely managing to keep his face calm and serene when all he wanted to do was laugh at Kagami's familiar temper; he was so easy to rile up and Himuro found it highly amusing.

There was no time for further conversation as they reached the locker rooms, getting ready for practice together. There was some teasing and banter, before they were soon spilling out onto the court to cluster around Riko, waiting for the plan she had no doubt been concocting ever since she realized she had such a good opportunity to evaluate new players show up at their front door.

The previous visitors had been invited guests, keeping her somewhat overdriven instincts to gather information in check. These two had practically volunteered for her scrutiny and she was looking forward to getting her metaphoric claws into them. This would be the first time she got a good long look at one of the Miracles without clothing obstructing her skill, and would finally have something to compare the astounding stats of Kagami to.

It was interesting to see the looks of shock on the Yosen player's faces as they were very seriously asked to strip off their shirts. Himuro glancing back and forth between his brother and the small but intimidating coach impatiently waiting for their compliance.

"Just do it Tatsuya or she won't ever let us play," Kagami advised. "We all had to when we joined."

Seeing that Murasakibara was already complying, being too lazy to argue or worry about such a simple request, he sighed and lifted his shirt off, leaning forward and shaking his head a bit to cover more of his eyes with his hair so he couldn't actually watch the eyes roving over him.

Riko found herself impressed, and attempted to suppress the truly manic grin threatening to surface at the potential in front of her. Himuro had very respectable numbers and he had truly honed his body to be about as good as it was going to get for his level of physical maturity. Her plans for him were more along the lines of how she could set him up to maintain that high performance level as he aged.

When her special eyes landed on Murasakibara two words escaped her that shocked even Hyuuga and Kiyoshi, "Holy shit."

"Ah Riko, did you just swear?" Hyuuga couldn't help but ask in almost tentative confusion.

It was Riko's turn to fight down a blush. "Maybe, but really, I have never seen numbers like his." That caught Himuro's attention.

"What do you mean his numbers?" He inquired curiously.

Kagami answered him, "She doesn't have us take our shirts off to ogle us. She can see our physical condition compared to our potential just by looking. That's the numbers she's talking about." He looked at his coach like she was a dangerous wild animal. "She hasn't reacted like that before though."

"Murasakibara-kun you have the highest potential I have ever seen," Riko informed, managing to pull herself together enough there was merely a tone of awe in her voice rather than outright gushing. Her eyes narrowed soon after saying that though, "But you've barely developed half of it."

Now that had the rest of the Seirin team, minus Kuroko because he already knew, bringing their gaze sharply to the giant center. It was hard to imagine a more intimidating monster, and he was only using half of what he could? That was a terrifying thought.

Murasakibara didn't look fazed, just pulled his shirt back on haphazardly. "As long as I win, why does it matter?"

As one every member of Seirin's basketball team stepped back a few paces; Himuro following suit when he noticed the move, slipping his shirt back on as he did so.

"Physical conditioning is not about winning!" Riko attempted to drive the point into Murasakibara's admittedly thick skull. "It is about making sure your body can keep up with what you ask it to do. All of you Miracles have the same problem, more skill than physical development, and that is why you hurt yourselves. Remember our game? You did exactly the same thing Kagami did when he first started learning his high jumps. You stressed your system so badly you couldn't rise up even one more time. With the potential you have that should have been easy for you."

She turned her gaze back to Himuro, the six foot tall shooting guard found himself with the incredible urge to cower after seeing her have the guts to give Atsushi an old fashioned dressing down. A lot like his own coach now that he thought about it. "You though. I can see you were guided by a pro to get where you are. Your stats are almost exactly equal to your potential. You're good enough you could have slacked just like those idiots and still won, making the risk of getting injured more pronounced, but you have obviously trained hard to protect yourself. Very nice work."

Okay he hadn't expected that one. He knew he was good, but not quite to the level of the Miracles, and here was Kagami's coach comparing him directly to them. "Thank you." He managed to reply politely, covering his surprise due to a large amount of practice.

He was surprised once again for her to shoot a glare at Kagami, "You should follow his example Bakagami; you still have a lot of work to do if you want to match his level of conditioning."

"Taiga is better than me," He couldn't help but make a very calm interruption.

She turned back to him, "That's not how this works. Winning or losing is not as important here as being the best you can be personally. When we bring that together it makes us stronger. He might have beaten you in one game, but you truly gave everything you had while he didn't. Not because he didn't want to, but because he couldn't. You beat him in ability compared to potential, for me that means more than having access to strength that you don't bother to develop." Here there was another gaze at Murasakibara filled with the thrill of a good challenge.

"Riko do you have what you need?" Hyuuga prompted, attempting to sway the visit to more productive things such as you know actually practicing.

She nodded, "Yes. I'd like to try something a little different with these two, we have a heavy defense player paired with a heavy offense. I think it would be interesting to split them apart and add in some of ours. Kagami, Izuki, and Koganei you're on Himuro-kun's side; Kuroko, Hyuuga, and Mitobe on Murasakibara-kun's." She wanted to see what would happen pairing Kagami with his brother, and Kuroko with his old teammate.

The following game was good, especially when she watched Kagami and Himuro sync up. She now completely understood why Kagami hadn't had any issues with pairing as closely as he did with Kuroko, he already had a history with linking up and working in close tandem with another player.

Every time she looked at Murasakibara though she was tempted to beat some sense into him. He was a good player, but had little motivation. He wasn't coming out from under the net at all, leaving Hyuuga and Mitobe to try and break through the opposition. To their credit they were holding up well under the strain. What had not been told to Kuroko and Kagami was before Kiyoshi was injured and they needed a center, Mitobe had been their power forward with Tsuchida as small forward. During the tumultuous time trying to scramble together a viable team, Mitobe took center, Tsuchida took PF, and Koganei was put in as SF. Tsuchida was good enough at rebounds they attempted to have him as center, but he wasn't quite tall enough, Mitobe was the only one left with the height to manage to hold the spot.

"I think I need to talk to Akashi, and soon," Riko noted to Kiyoshi who was sitting glumly on the bench, but it said something about the amount of pain he was in that he hadn't even tried to argue with her about putting him in the match.

"About Murasakibara?" That particular reaction Riko had given to her evaluation of him was rather spectacular.

"Well him, and the others too," Riko admitted. "I tried to get what I could from the other three that came, and they really do all have the same problem. Their training regimen can't keep up with their talents. He's worked with them the most and should have a good idea how to retailor their efforts, I'd like to bring dad into it too. We shouldn't allow them to hurt themselves because they have abilities that would normally only manifest on a fully matured body. Kagami is a little better off, he got here still mostly raw so I had a chance to condition him throughout his blooming; he's older than the Miracles were when they started getting good so he was that much more equipped to handle it."

"I thought you were mad at him?" After what Kise, Aomine, and Midorima had discussed about their ex-captain it had taken quite a bit of effort to calm Riko down from hopping the next train to Rakuzan so she could give Akashi a piece of her mind.

"Oh I am," She assured, "But he would still be the best for the job. I want a consult not a takeover, if he thinks that's what will happen then he has another thing coming. This is his chance to redeem himself and prove the Miracles' loyalty is well placed."

Kiyoshi nodded, "Alright, that makes sense." He agreed before going silent and watching the game.

It looked like Himuro was guiding Kagami into pressing every one of Murasakibara's buttons, trying to lure him onto offense. Kuroko seemed to be of the same mind as he often passed backwards giving him good chances to drive forward only to be denied with him redirecting the pass.

Attempting to provoke the giant was giving all the others a good work out. The only way he could be truly tempted is if he felt his side was in danger of losing, except there was no way anyone on his team would willingly throw a game just to get him to that point. Winning was not everything, but having pride in giving your all was the cornerstone of Seirin's basketball as Riko had explained to the Yosen players.

A few shouted commands and the brothers attempted a new tactic, instead of gunning for Murasakibara, they went for Kuroko. If they could shut down his passes then Murasakibara could be forced onto the wider court to make up for the shortfall.

Easier said than done. Kuroko was good, they had all known that, but when he realized what Kagami and Himuro were trying to do he kicked it up a notch. He would reach his playing limit sooner, but it might make it that much more challenging.

Kagami, as much as he didn't want to admit it, was taking a page out of Aomine's book. He was the only one to truly defeat the vanishing drive, shutting it down was not the same as stopping it while Kuroko was doing everything right, and he had done it by closing his eyes and running off instinct.

For Kagami, this was a game where he had an advantage that Aomine didn't. He could read two people on the court, one was Kuroko, and the other was his brother. Every time he managed to intercept a pass from his shadow he could have it flying towards Himuro almost as soon as he touched it. Aomine played alone, Kagami did not, and that was what made their styles truly different no matter how similarly they thought.

Murasakibara was lazy, but not stupid, he knew what they were trying to get him to do since Seirin had done it to him before. He was refusing to let himself be baited this time, just sent a baleful glare to Himuro as he took a shot again.

Then he saw them ganging up on Kuroko. That irritated him. Kuroko was no damsel in distress that needed saving, he was a good player with his own confidence, but Murasakibara didn't like that they were using him to try and flush him out. Perfectly legal, but still distasteful in his opinion, if he wanted to come out he would but he just didn't want to.

Still letting Kuroko outdo him felt a little too much like losing. They had argued so much over which of their methods were better that if he held back and their team lost it would go a long way towards proving Kuroko's point that effort was just as important, or more, as skill.

The sound of heavy pounding feet coming up behind him made Kuroko want to smile, if he wasn't working so hard to breathe that is. The ball he had just sent towards Hyuuga was scooped out of the air and slammed against the hardwood floor with a hard fast dribble, long strides carrying Murasakibara's powerful body towards the hoop, completely overwhelming Koganei and Izuki making them fall backwards, but they had managed to slow him down just enough Kagami and Himuro met his drive underneath the basket pressing hard. Surprisingly agile for his size Murasakibara dodged them both and slammed the ball into the hoop the swish of the net utterly drowned out by the titanic thump of his body coming back down to the ground.

There was a momentary pause of surprise from the action, but soon enough enthusiasm broke through shock and they were back to playing their hearts out. It was exhilarating to play on that caliber when it wasn't such high stakes any more.

Kiyoshi wondered vaguely if he might need to catch Riko she swooned so strongly watching Murasakibara finally deciding to show some of what he could do. All that potential right in front of her, in their gym, perfectly positioned for her to mold and work with.

There was definitely a bit of regret on her face when she had to call the match, Kuroko looked like he was about to pass out and some of the others weren't far behind. Murasakibara had been playing on offense for about five minutes, and with that their side finished fifteen points up.

Kagami and Murasakibara were still fired up though, they had brought out the monster and he wanted to go until he got to crush the opposition. Murasakibara was the poster child for be careful what you wish for, you just might get it. "One on one?" Kagami offered, staring him down and getting a challenging nod, childishness chased away to be replaced with competitiveness.

"Coach, can we stay out?" Kagami was excited and hopeful as he practically begged, just barely remembering they might want to get permission.

Who was she to deny such a golden opportunity? "Oh okay, but be careful you two, we don't have time to replace any hoops right now." The others sweat dropped as they realized she was not kidding.

"Atsushi, here," Himuro called out, fishing a hair-tie out of his pocket and tossing it to the Yosen center.

Murasakibara caught it and was in the middle of gathering his purple hair away from his face when he realized something that made him glare at his teammate again, "You planned this Muro-chin." That was not phrased as a question. Murasakibara knew the only reason Himuro would carry a hair-tie around is if he believed the center would end up playing his all.

"I had hoped," Himuro admitted blandly. "I wasn't sure if we could manage it though."

"You're not backing out are you?" Kagami challenged, wanting that heart pounding battle.

Purple eyes narrowed, "I'm going to crush you."

"Bring it on!" Kagami demanded wholeheartedly.

The two rushed back out on the court basketball in hand, leaving the others on the bench to marvel at the sheer amount of enthusiasm. A small smile was on Himuro's face, "I knew he would like it here."

"For someone who doesn't care about playing he looks almost as excited as Kagami," Koganei noted.

"It's not the game Atsushi likes, it's the feeling he gets when he plays and wins against a person who challenges him." Himuro revealed.

"Like Aomine?" Furihata asked curiously.

Himuro shrugged, "I don't know enough about him."

Kuroko answered the question for him, "They both do like beating someone who challenges them, but for Aomine-kun the game is important. He is competitive at everything but the only thing he really gets a thrill from is basketball, that's why he got so depressed when the thrill was gone because he couldn't find someone strong enough to challenge him."

"Could the same thing happen to Murasakibara if he is trained too much now?" Kiyoshi asked in concern, with a glance over at the plotting Riko.

"I don't think so," Kuroko evaluated. "That's not the way Murasakibara-kun thinks. Instead of getting depressed, he would be more likely to get into an actual competition with himself regarding training. Spin it right and it can be a challenge and he hates losing, if he is motivated in the right way forcefully enough he won't stop until he reaches that level."

"I take it that is how Akashi worked with him?" Hyuuga asked.

"Yes, but he didn't push him as hard as he could have," Kuroko confessed. "He can be motivated but it is very hard to do in the long term, and with him being so naturally good for a long time there was very little reason to argue too much with him."

"I still don't like that method," Riko insisted, "It's like Akashi had all of you training in the exact opposite way as you should have. Instead of working on conditioning and foundations, he pushed you so hard into winning you relied too much on talents your bodies were just not ready to handle."

Kuroko wanted to defend his ex-captain but he was running into a conundrum, "I'm sorry, you have the wrong idea about him. All I can tell you is Akashi-kun has a reason for the way he acted, but it is too personal for me to say anything specific without him giving permission."

It was pretty simple. Akashi was being pressured himself, practically making a deal with a devil so he could keep playing basketball, he absolutely had to win. That drive coupled together with the fact he had been in physical training practically his whole life made it so the idea that others hadn't experienced that had honestly not occurred to him until too late.

Himuro had kept an eye on the court and by now he was completely sure Kagami was too engrossed in his match with Murasakibara to notice anything else. He tapped Kuroko on the shoulder, "Can I talk to you for a few minutes alone?" He inquired quietly.

Kuroko nodded and went over to Hyuuga, talking lowly, and receiving a shooing motion.

"We can use the locker room." Kuroko explained as he came back over. "Hyuuga-senpai will try to keep coach distracted."

"I take it you know what I wanted to talk to you about?" Himuro guessed once they were safely out of earshot.

"You're worried about Kagami-kun." Kuroko responded, settling on the long bench in front of his locker, Himuro sitting next to him.

He nodded at the shadow, "Yes, Taiga told me some of what happened. He was a little too worked up for detail though, so do you mind me asking what went on last night? I'm only asking so I can try and help him deal with it, he panics easily."

"Nothing that bad. He got caught up in the moment and decided to kiss me," Kuroko answered levelly. "He started apologizing right after it and he thought I'd want to leave immediately."

"Thought so," That was the confirmation Himuro had been looking for. "I want you to know Taiga does not do anything like that lightly, but he is very impulsive. He can't always control himself when he has strong emotions, and that can get him in trouble. You seem surprisingly calm about what happened but that is not often the case."

A slight blush made Kuroko's ears turn pink, "It's not exactly the first time something like that has happened. Just not with Kagami-kun."

"Oh? Now I'm curious," Himuro admitted. "You don't have to tell me though, I know it's personal."

Kuroko just shook his head, "It's not a big deal. I don't really hide it, but no one bothers to ask. Aomine-kun and Kise-kun have kissed me, and I have kissed Akashi-kun. We just spent so much time together and went through so much that things happened."

Himuro debated with himself a moment before deciding it was okay to ask, after all Kuroko had every right to not answer if he didn't want to, "Are you gay?"

Kuroko nodded and, because he trusted Himuro who had come so far just to take care of his little brother, he elaborated. "I am, so is Akashi-kun and Midorima-kun. Kise-kun will pretty much date anything, and Aomine-kun definitely prefers women but if he gets close enough to a male he might show a little interest. I don't know about Murasakibara-kun, as far as I know he didn't date in middle school or make any moves to try."

Himuro returned the favor in kind, "I'm straight, but Taiga is gay. He tries not to let anyone know. He did the same kind of impulsive thing to one of the other players back in LA and he got beat up for it, and I mean that literally. There was a group of them and they even managed to break one of his ribs before Alex and I could get there to stop them. I know he likes you a lot or he wouldn't have risked what he did, and I came here hoping to get your promise that even if you don't like him the same way you won't turn on him or give him away to someone who might hurt him like that again."

Kuroko had paled even more than he always was at hearing what his light had endured. "I would never let that happen to him. I like Kagami-kun, and wouldn't really mind trying for more, but even if I didn't I wouldn't allow him to get hurt. Also our biggest rivals are the ones with the least problems with it or we would all pretty much be hypocrites."

"I do kind of have to admit I'm a little surprised about how many of the Miracles are not straight," He confessed, having not expected it from the majority of them.

"Most of the time I just thought a lot of the incidents were brought on by too many emotions and not enough outlets, like after a really good game. Then we got to the point where we didn't bother to think about it, that's just the way we were." Kuroko tried to explain. The Miracles were all hot blooded and when games were over without them burning off enough energy it left them pumped up, add that to spending nearly every waking moment together and boundaries were crossed. They were young enough when they started getting intimate for it to be innocent and no big deal, and later on it had been happening for so long they didn't see any point in trying to change it.

Himuro responded slowly, "Taiga doesn't talk about it much, but one of the times he tried to get it off his chest he mentioned that he had gotten carried away and acted without thinking. It might not have even been the person specifically that was the problem, but they were playing on a public street court on a popular day, having other people see it might explain why it escalated so badly. The three of us never went back to that place again after that, and avoided that part of the city at all if we could. Taiga didn't ever want to see anyone from that day again, they knew his secret and already hurt him for it, and he didn't want that to happen again."

"I know you want to help him, but why are you the one telling me all this? Shouldn't it come from Kagami-kun?" Kuroko was worried his Light didn't trust him.

"Because I meant it when I said he doesn't talk about it. I think he needs to, but he won't bring it up himself. From talking with you I know you care and will help him if he starts trying to run away from those memories. I wanted you to know he will not willingly push you away, but he is terrified because of what has already happened, I think he is also worried that this time it won't be him that gets hurt it will be you. He couldn't live with himself if you got hurt because he lost control again." Himuro explained calmly, having expected the question.

"I'll do what I can," Kuroko promised. "I meant what I said too, I like him. I won't let him run away, especially now when I know what he is really running from. Can I ask something else?"

"Go ahead," Himuro allowed.

"What happened to the people that hurt Kagami-kun?" There was very controlled rage burning in the Shadow now that he allowed himself to feel it having gotten what he needed from Himuro.

"You won't like it," He warned.

"Please tell me?" Kuroko asked again, "I don't think I would like anything short of prison, but I kind of doubt that happened."

"Fine, nothing happened to them. Taiga wouldn't press charges, even his parents couldn't persuade him to do it. Taiga did not want to expose himself to scrutiny, there are quite a few people including some of the police that would hear that story and say it was his fault for instigating the whole thing. We know that is total bullshit, but we couldn't convince him to even try." Yes he swore, even he did it when he got worked up enough, thinking about the black eye, split lip, and the bruises all over his little brother's chest and back was a guaranteed way of doing that.

That was about the time Kagami and Murasakibara discovered them, and one look at the furious and concerned expressions on both his brother and his shadow told Kagami that Kuroko knew.

He tried to turn away from the pair, only to be blocked by the large body of Murasakibara keeping him from going anywhere for long enough Kuroko could get to him and wrap his arms around him from behind, resting his head against Kagami's shoulder blades and just staying there without a word. He held onto him tightly, and he planned to never let go. He had a feeling if Aomine or Kise ever figured out what happened to their best challenge fists would fly, and the thought of what Akashi might do had even him shuddering.

He turned enough to press a kiss against the tense muscle, "You are my Light and I will not allow anything to tarnish that. I am the only one that can be your shadow, not people who hurt you." He spoke quietly.

Murasakibara had left them alone to sit next to Himuro heavily. "Thank you Atsushi." Himuro said in appreciation, so quietly neither Kuroko nor Kagami could hear him.

"I did it for Kuro-chin," Murasakibara admitted. There might have been a little more planning involved in this little field trip than it had first appeared. Himuro had not told him everything, but it had been enough to convince him to be both distraction and blockade.

"I know," Himuro assured, "But this was for both of them." He looked at Kuroko comforting his brother and knew he had made the right choice, it had been a bit of a gamble, but it had been one that needed to happen. He smiled softly while waiting for them to collect themselves together enough to head back to practice. Answers vague about their whereabouts, but the seniors knew enough about their juniors to realize whatever had happened was very private and if they were going to say anything at all it should be on their terms.


	10. Waiting Game

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Everybody loves Senpai.

Chapter Ten

Waiting Game

The day had finally come for Kiyoshi's surgery. Riko and Hyuuga went with him to the hospital while the rest of the team gathered in Kagami's apartment to wait for news.

Right now the owner of the apartment was distracting himself with cooking, Mitobe helping him since he had to make so much. He was keeping his promise to Izuki before and making something he remembered from America. Once he realized they would all be invading his place he contacted Alex for some of the recipes he hadn't thought to bring. He needed something that made a lot of food with ingredients he could get.

"Does anyone not like spicy food?" He called out when it was time to make the sauce.

Kuroko immediately spoke up, "I don't Kagami-kun, sorry." Immediately following that Koganei, Furihata, and Tsuchida raised their hands in agreement with him.

"Don't apologize, the reason I asked is there is two different kinds of sauce, one isn't as strong." Kagami explained, "I'll just make both kinds, and people can take what they like."

The recipe was in English and didn't use the metric system so he had to tell Mitobe what to do, but they did work well together once the language gap was taken care of. The volume was so much it was going to take multiple batches, but the first one was in the oven soon and the two cooks could come join the others in the living room.

"I hope everything is going alright." Izuki noted, looking at the time trying to figure out what was happening at the hospital.

"Riko or Hyuuga would tell us if it wasn't, we just have to wait." Tsuchida reminded.

The overall atmosphere was a bit downcast and quiet, making the chiming of a cellphone all the more obvious. Kuroko looked at the message and barely believed what he was seeing. "Aomine-kun is downstairs, he wants to wait with us."

"How in the heck did he know where I live?" That was the very first thought to run through Kagami's head before the real message sunk in, "Wait, he's really here for that?"

"Yes." Kuroko responded simply, "Can I let him in?"

"Fine," Kagami grumbled darkly, "But I'm not feeding him!"

Kuroko just barely refrained from rolling his eyes before heading downstairs to bring his first Light upstairs with them.

"You live here? Not bad Bakagami," Aomine noted as he shrugged out of his coat and kicked off his shoes, bringing the bag in his hand to their attention, and he saw where their gazes were locked. "Sakurai sent food, seemed to think you might have more showing up than you planned on."

A very quiet sigh of relief, "As long as it wasn't Momoi-san." Kuroko admitted.

"Do you really think I would bring something she made?" Aomine asked incredulously. "I don't really feel like going to jail for poisoning someone."

Seeing shocked expressions, Kuroko elaborated. "She has the same problem as coach."

"I take it she is how you knew where I lived?" Kagami was still testy, but at least Aomine's teammate had thought to provide extra food for him, that was a little better anyway.

"Yes, and not just me, the others asked her too, I didn't really expect to be the first one here," Aomine warned with a little smirk, waiting for the fireworks.

He was not disappointed, "What the hell?!"

A shrug, "Your senior has our respect, why wouldn't we want to see if he was okay?"

No one was quite sure how to respond to that, but Kuroko recovered the fastest, "I think Kiyoshi-Senpai would be happy to hear that."

"He would," Izuki agreed.

Kagami appeared to physically deflate as he realized what was really important. "So, what's in the bag?"

Turned out to be five bento boxes, and when a very curious Koganei opened the top one they couldn't help but stare, "It's…It's…So cute!" He finally broke out when the whole thing finally sunk in.

"Tastes good too, I steal his food all the time, totally worth Satsuki and Wakamatsu yelling at me." Following that at least four people sweat dropped at the proud tone Aomine used when admitting to larceny.

"You know what? I'm not even going to try commenting on that," Kagami declared. "I'll just set these in the fridge until it's time to eat, I need to check on the other food anyway."

That had Aomine following him into the kitchen like a bloodhound, "What kind of food?"

"Doesn't matter to you, already told Kuroko I wasn't feeding you. Luckily your teammate decided to be nice or you would be going hungry." Kagami was just next to kicking the other ace out of his kitchen, but he was at least attempting to be a bit civil thanks to Aomine's comment about Kiyoshi.

Aomine had a wonderful, awful, idea; just like the Grinch, "Tch, bet it tastes worse than Satsuki's cooking."

"No way! If her food is anything like coach's that's not happening." Kagami bristled, recognizing in the back of his mind what Aomine was trying to do, and to his annoyance it was kind of working.

"Oh yeah? Prove it!" Aomine demanded, the sides of his mouth slipping up into a smirk, while very obviously peering into the oven as Kagami checked on the food. "Seriously, what is that?"

"Enchiladas, something I learned how to make in America, Mitobe-senpai helped," Kagami eventually explained, closing the oven and practically herding Aomine back towards the others. The kitchen was his territory dang it. "And I told you, none of that is for you!"

"Keep acting like that and I really will believe you've got something to hide," Aomine continued to jab, trying to push just the right buttons. "You're probably just afraid I'll think it sucks."

At this point the others were able to overhear and could have potentially interfered to help save their ace, but there was far too much humor to be had in just sitting back and watching the fallout; it was a very nice distraction from thinking about what might be happening at the hospital.

"No!" Kagami immediately refused, glaring at his teammates for their abandonment. He knew exactly what they were doing. "I just don't feel like catering to freeloaders."

"Hey I brought stuff!" Aomine reminded, with a sharp gesture towards the kitchen where Kagami had stowed away the bento boxes.

"That doesn't count, Sakurai made them, all you did was carry them here." Kagami pointed out as he crossed his arms across his chest glaring.

Aomine had anticipated that and had a response ready. "Still brought it, and wouldn't have been any different had I stopped and picked them up somewhere on the way, at least this way I know that's good food."

"If it's so good, why don't you just eat that?" Kagami returned just as quickly.

"Because I get that all the time, want to see what you're so worried about," Aomine jabbed back, not wanting to admit how much fun he was having with this.

"Agh, fine, you can have one, and I mean that, only one!" Kagami caved, hating that Aomine had gotten under his skin enough to provoke the allowance.

The overly pleased with himself smirk just served to rile Kagami up more. That bastard was far too cocky, though Kagami admitted in the back of his mind that he could be just as bad, but that was different.

Luckily for everyone else in the apartment, Kuroko spoke up, distracting Aomine and Kagami, "Kise-kun is here," He interrupted, once again looking at the message on his cell phone.

Kagami couldn't help but groan at the thought of the hyperactive blonde invading his already somewhat over-crowded apartment. "Fine, bring him upstairs." Despite his misgivings, he was still against leaving someone like him outside unsupervised, something just told him it would be a bad idea.

A few minutes later Kuroko led Kise up to the apartment with the others, "Wow, something smells really good." He immediately said, while swooning a bit. "Who cooked?"

"I did, and Mitobe-senpai helped," Kagami answered, mollified a bit at hearing the unprompted compliment, much different from Aomine's approach.

"Now I feel a little awkward bringing this, I doubt it would be as good," Kise responded morosely while digging around in his bag until he found a medium sized plastic container. "I didn't want to come without bringing something though, I know you probably didn't expect us to show up and we can eat like pigs when we feel like it." Hey, at least he was honest.

Kagami took the container and peered inside, "Cookies?"

"Yeah, I didn't have a whole lot of time, so I thought I would make something sweet." He admitted. "Thought you might want a treat with everything going on with your Senpai."

"Wait a second, you cook?" That surprised Koganei, and in talking he brought Kise's attention to the rest of the team.

Kise nodded, "It's something I do to relax, and it isn't that hard."

"Really? Everything I make turns to charcoal," Tsuchida confessed. "My mom doesn't let me near the stove anymore."

"Don't listen to him, all he has to do is watch once and he can recreate it, basketball is not the only thing he can copy," Aomine butted in.

"Aominecchi!" Kise exclaimed with a scandalized tone, "You make it sound so horrible." He turned huge gold eyes on his old teammate, cutting down the dramatics a tad just because this was Aomine, but he really couldn't turn off all the theatrics unless it was under very specific circumstances.

The Touou Ace crossed his arms in front of his chest, "Oh really? Can you honestly tell me it doesn't work that way?"

"You guys learn that way too, I just catch onto it faster." Kise insisted. "It's not my fault I learn so fast, I can't turn it off or anything. If it weren't for basketball I would be bored out of my mind."

"Let me guess, it's the one thing even you have to work at to get better?" Izuki inquired.

"Something like that," Kise admitted. "The only sport any way. I can't catch on to lessons the same way though. I just can't concentrate on it as much as I do for something physical."

"So if you focused more you would get better grades out of it?" Izuki checked his understanding.

"Probably, but I don't really know for sure since I haven't really tried." Kise confessed, "Used to get in trouble for it a lot by Akashicchi, he seemed to think I was holding back."

"That's because you were Kise-kun," Kuroko pointed out logically, "Just like how he got made at Aomine-kun for not showing up to practice."

"That was different!" Aomine defended himself, "I didn't need to practice. We were winning games whether I practiced or not. He was failing tests."

"So were you!" Kise reminded with a pout.

"Yeah, but unlike you I didn't have a choice." Aomine shot back, only to hear a poorly disguised snort of amusement.

"Bullshit," The word was barely distinguishable from the sound of Kagami's laughter, but audible all the same. "Aren't you always sleeping during school?"

"How in the hell do you know that?!" Aomine now felt the same way as Kagami did when he realized the Generation of Miracles knew where he lived.

"You Miracles aren't the only ones who have ways of finding things out," Kagami defended himself smugly.

"Tch, you mean Tetsu told you," Aomine dismissed.

"Actually, no, I didn't Aomine-kun," Kuroko refuted.

"So how?" Confusion was a thing Aomine felt right then.

No one expected Kagami to smirk, "That's for me to know and you to find out." He had actually just been guessing, he was basing it off his own habits. If he didn't have Kuroko in his class to rat him out to their terrifying coach he might have done the exact same thing far more often than he managed to now.

Of course the moment was ruined a bit when Kagami realized if he didn't get the first batch out of the oven quickly it would burn, it was very close to being done when Aomine was pestering him. "Oi, Kise, if you want to help get the next batch in you can, right Mitobe-senpai?" Kagami offered, heading for the kitchen again as the ever silent Mitobe just nodded his head and made a shooing motion with his hand towards the kitchen. At least this time no one needed Koganei to translate the meaning.

"Thanks Kagamicchi!" Kise replied sunnily, practically bouncing after the Seirin ace, leaving Aomine standing a bit shell shocked in the middle of the room.

"…I can't tell if Kagami was aiming that at Kise out of actually wanting help, or just to mess with Aomine since he kicked him out of the kitchen." Izuki wasn't shy in admitting, ignoring the dark glare thrown his way by Aomine. He wasn't intimidated by the prodigy anymore, not after everything that happened in the Winter Cup.

"Both," Kuroko answered calmly, there was no doubt in his mind that was exactly what his Light had been thinking. "You should sit down Aomine-kun." He advised.

Aomine listened, coming over to where the ring of players were either sprawled on the couch or piled up around Kagami's table, personal space wasn't a big issue when you spent so much time together on a team, close quarters were somewhat normal when you consider the size of locker rooms and the amount of bus rides it took to get to matches.

Aomine managed to tuck his smoothly muscled body in between Kuroko and Furihata. He attempted to set his hand on Kuroko's fluffy blue hair, but a glare from his former shadow had him rethinking the idea. Kuroko was in perfect position to nail him in the ribs with a well-placed elbow; he might not look it but Kuroko was strong so that would definitely hurt.

"So is there any of you Miracles not coming?" Koganei asked.

"Murasakibara isn't," Aomine responded. "Seems like they got in too much trouble the last time they ran down here; they didn't get permission, and now they have practice in the morning so his babysitter and him couldn't come."

"Babysitter?" Izuki had to admit he was curious.

"You didn't notice?" Aomine asked incredulously. "He isn't so great at taking care of himself, so someone usually has to keep an eye on him. That was Akashi in Teiko, now it's that teammate he is bringing to the showcase."

Kuroko couldn't resist, he tried but failed, "Aomine-kun has the same thing; Momoi-san went to Touou with him because of it."

"Hate to break it to you Kuroko, but all of the Miracles have that. The only thing different for you is that you and Kagami take care of each other, but you both still need help or we would lose you all the time and Kagami wouldn't have someone to help him control his temper." Once Izuki realized what Aomine meant he had been able to quickly make the connection between the others.

The comment was met with silence.

"See I was right," Izuki boasted, glad the addition of Aomine and Kise had given them something to think about other than what was happening at the hospital. That was the real reason he was continuing to tease his Kouhai.

Kagami's voice broke in, "Something tells me I don't want to know what that's about, so I'm just going to ignore it." He decided, carrying a platter over to the table, with Kise trailing behind holding onto two bowls. "You guys can at least get started, more will be done later. If you don't like your food too spicy take the green sauce, if you do try the red." He explained as the platter of enchiladas and bowls of sauce were set down. He swiftly gathered plates and eating utensils so his teammates and the two Miracles could eat.

"Aren't you going to eat, Kagami?" Koganei asked while pulling one onto his plate.

"I'll eat last," Kagami responded with red climbing up his cheeks. "I want to make sure the rest of you get enough."

He noticed, despite the harassment earlier, that Aomine was actually sticking to his order of only taking one. The Touou ace had covered half with red sauce, and the rest with green, so Kagami watched him curiously as he took the first bite of seasoned beef, melted cheese, and spicy red sauce.

Blue eyes widened and much like Akashi had with the hamburger, though much less decorous, he proceeded to devour every last bite in less than a minute not caring that he'd managed to burn his mouth and his eyes were starting to run from the heat. "You know Bakagami it was okay, but I'm not sure I can tell from just this one that you can cook, I might need another to be sure it wasn't just a fluke." No one could ever claim that Aomine was shy about pressing his luck.

"Aominecchi, be nice to Kagamicchi!" Kise ordered, "These aren't easy to make, and he did let you have some didn't he?"

Kagami sighed, "I thought I heard someone asking who would be here, just how many am I cooking for?"

"The only ones left are Midorima and Akashi," Aomine responded. "I'm kinda surprised Midorima isn't here already."

"As long as Tatsuya and Murasakibara aren't coming I have enough you can have more Ahomine." Kagami eventually decided, trying to ignore for the moment that the Rakuzan captain would be here in his apartment with all of them. All he knew was that when his brother and the giant center had come to Seirin they ended up spending the night at his apartment and the three of them had demolished just about everything in his cupboards in a single night.

Kagami valiantly tried to keep from going weak in the knees at the little smile shown his way from Kuroko. Maybe just maybe playing nice with Aomine would be worth it if he got to see more of those.

Most of the first batch of enchiladas were gone when Kuroko received another text, "Midorima-kun is here, Takao came with him."

"Surprise, surprise," Aomine muttered, this time gaining himself the elbow to the ribs he had avoided earlier in the night. "Ow, what was that for?!"

"You shouldn't say such things Aomine-kun." Kuroko replied calmly as Kagami left to lead the duo upstairs since he was the only one not eating at the moment.

Once again he was pleasantly surprised when the pair had brought their own peace offerings, though this time it was in the form of various juices and pops. "They fit in the cart," Takao explained. "We thought the others might have trouble bringing anything bulky or heavy."

Meanwhile Midorima had come over to Kuroko, thrusting out his hand, "This is for your Senpai." In his hand was a phone charm in the shape of a bunny. "A rabbit figurine is his lucky item for today."

"He will appreciate it," Izuki responded, saving Kuroko from replying since he actually looked like he was getting a little choked up. Kuroko didn't have siblings, to him his team was the world, and he had a definite soft spot for Kiyoshi.

"Shin-chan had to look through a bunch of old basketball magazines to find his birthday," Takao ratted Midorima out. "He forgot to ask Momoi what sign Kiyoshi was."

"Is that why Kise beat you guys here?" Aomine figured it had something to do with Midorima's little hobby, but he hadn't expected that.

"That, and stopping to get the drinks," Takao confirmed.

"We were running low, those were a good thing to bring." Kagami admitted, not as rankled about the invading Miracles since he had time to get used to the idea. This was about Kiyoshi not him.

Soon enough the Shutoku plays had joined the others, and the last two enchiladas were relinquished to them, the knowledge there was more to come the only reason for such generosity. Kagami really could cook well.

It took another forty-five minutes before Akashi arrived in a sleek black private car, Kagami couldn't help but be impressed at the sight while waiting to bring him upstairs. It was his home, he would greet guests whether invited or not. Though Akashi did enter like he owned the place, Kagami just assumed that was his default behavior and let it go. Not worth getting worked up over.

"Akashi-kun, I didn't think you would come." The statement from Kuroko was said with his normal even tone. It was a simple observation and not a challenge the why he said it.

Akashi shrugged, "It was the right thing to do. I have respect for your senior and would like to show it. I stopped by the hospital on my way here. According to your coach and captain everything has been proceeding well. They will call with more details when Kiyoshi Teppei is brought to the recovery room."

"Thank you for checking on him," Izuki responded gratefully. Hyuuga and Kiyoshi were his two best friends. He understood they didn't need to overrun the hospital with people, but he was still a little upset he wasn't with them.

"I had the opportunity to do so, I simply took advantage of it." Akashi brushed off, while Aomine and Kuroko split apart enough to give him room to sit. Basketball players were now practically on top of each other, but other than a little playful roughhousing it was tolerated.

At that point all the food was done, and every inch of the low table was covered with tidbits, a plate being produced for the ex-captain. Kagami even remembered to warn him about the strength difference in the sauces.

Where Kuroko had just dabbed on a little of the green, Kagami was a little surprised to see Akashi smothering his with red. He started a bit guiltily when he realized Akashi had caught him staring and was giving him a long look, not even a scowl, but it still made him fight the urge to drop his gaze.

It was almost as bad as trying to stand up to his mother when she was angry with him. He was pretty sure Akashi might just murder him if he became aware of the comparison so he very carefully kept both the idea and the bit of laughter that threatened to surface at the thought to himself.

Actually when he let himself think about it, the choice of sauce wasn't the most surprisingly thing. Instead of going for the lighter and healthier options, he had chosen Kagami's homemade food. Kagami felt a weird sort of pride at the realization.

Akashi's presence surprisingly didn't have a great deal of effect on the atmosphere, not like the Seirin players were afraid of anyway, if anything they were pretty sure he had joined in on an inside joke or two with the former Teiko players. It made him seem more human, which was a very nice change.

Finally, a different phone rang, this one being Izuki's. He was answering the call as soon as he could get his shaky hand to press the buttons. Relief filled his voice as he talked to Hyuuga, the others crowding around him trying to hear whatever they could.

The conversation wasn't very long, Hyuuga had a list of people to call that he promised to cover so Kiyoshi's grandparents didn't have to worry about anything but their grandson.

"The doctors say Kiyoshi should make a full recovery." Izuki reported dutifully. "He will need a lot of physical therapy, but he'll be fine and is starting to wake up. Hyuuga and Riko are going to stay with his grandparents tonight to make sure they have everything they need."

"Have you talked at all about what happens next?" Takao asked carefully.

"With the team?" Tsuchida needed a little clarification.

"Yes," Takao confirmed.

"First string is going to change up again," Tsuchida explained. He realized there was a good portion of people in this room on teams they would be playing against, but it wasn't like this was information that would do Seirin any good to hide. "Unless we get another really good rookie at try-outs Mitobe will be put back in Center. Kawahara-kun is in training for it, and I can fill in if I had to so we can at least handle that."

Surprisingly Akashi broke in, "Without the Ironheart you will need to put more force behind your offence once more. You do have a slight advantage you didn't have last summer in that Taiga and Tetsuya have bonded tighter together, and as a duo they have linked with the rest of your team smoothly. Use that to your advantage."

Stares from all direction, but it was Koganei who broke the silence first. "You just said the same thing as coach, almost word for word."

"She is a very knowledgeable coach." Akashi complimented without pause, he gave credit where it was due. "I have seen her tactics and skill, should she continue on the coaching path she will very quickly make a name for herself."

"Why don't you do what Hanamiya does and coach your team yourself?" Fukuda asked curiously.

Akashi raised an eyebrow. "I don't need to. Those captains with so little faith in themselves that they cannot accept direction and advice will fail as Makoto has proven. I played against him once, his style is unorthodox but effective. A guiding hand helping him use that weapon to its fullest extent would have given him a fighting chance at victory. There is no substitute for experience no matter how skilled you are, which is what makes your coach's precocious talent so impressive. It should not exist in someone as young as she is."

"She has experience," Kuroko explained, "Her father was a sport's trainer that owned a gym. She has been studying training methods and how best to develop talent for far longer than anyone else our age."

"I thought there had to be some explanation," Akashi admitted. "She was too good not to have some background in the field."

"If you had come to Seirin would you have worked with Riko?" Izuki couldn't help but ask. "You respect her now, but I suspect that is a new mindset."

"Not as new as you might think," Akashi refuted, "I marked her talent from the beginning of the Winter Cup. If she had shown me that skill from the beginning of tryouts I doubt I would have had a problem with it. My goal is victory, the means to that end is negotiable as long as I achieve it."

That was about the time people began realizing what time it was and if they were planning on going home they better start seriously thinking about it. The Seirin players were some of the first to leave, they had already spent most of the day together and had the news they needed. This was a perfect opportunity to get some downtime and either catch up on homework or spend time with their families.

This left Kagami surrounded by a ring of Miracles, and was a little startled when Akashi pulled him to the side while the others were distracted by collecting their belongings, "I need you to do something for me." He admitted.

"What?" Kagami didn't know what to think about a request stemming from him.

"Allow Ryouta to stay here tonight? He shouldn't travel by himself at night, he attracts too much attention and there are times when there isn't enough people around to keep him safe." Akashi explained, "He won't say anything about it though, it's something he doesn't like to admit."

Looking over at the golden blonde, Kagami realized he was moving the slowest and seemed the most reluctant, but it wasn't something he would have noticed if Kuroko hadn't told him there was something to look for. "Yeah, I guess he can stay." Kagami eventually decided, he didn't want anything happening to Kise when there was something he could do about it.

"Thank you," Akashi responded with a pleased smile, glad he had managed to protect his former teammate.

"Are you staying too?" Kagami realized he should extend the invitation.

"Do you want me to?" There was something that sounded a lot like curiosity in Akashi's voice.

"I won't try to stop you," That was the most diplomatic answer he could come up with.

Akashi nodded, "If more of my players stay then I will as well. Would you like me to tell Ryouta he has a place?"

"I need to start cleaning up, so if you want to do that and tell the others they can stay if they want that would be good." Kagami was very careful to make it a request not an order, he was more relaxed around Akashi than he used to be, but that didn't make him forget everything.

Akashi just nodded and walked over to Kise, letting him know he had a safe place to stay, the look of relief in gold eyes was obvious and it made Kagami feel a little bad that he hadn't thought about it before. A model and star basketball player walking by himself at night was probably not a good idea, he was always hounded by fans, and under those circumstances one of them may be tempted to take it too far.

Midorima and Takao turned down the invitation, but Aomine and Kuroko stayed too. Once the Shutoku players had left Kise spoke up, "Thank you Kagamicchi." He said gratefully while starting to pitch in with the cleaning, the others slowly following suit except predictably Akashi.

"Thank Akashi, he's the one who thought to ask me. Next time if you need anything you should just say something." Kagami chastised, pride he understood, but not if it meant you let yourself get hurt.

"It isn't exactly easy to admit," Kise confessed. "I can take care of myself most of the time, but not if I can't see what's coming."

"Still, you should've said something. I'd rather have you stay here than get hurt." Kagami pressed. "It's not like I don't have the room."

"You really do care Bakagami, don't you?" Aomine realized.

"Why wouldn't I?" Kagami responded, scandalized, "You really think I would kick him out and have something bad happen to him? What kind of person do you think I am?"

It clicked then in Kuroko's mind why Kagami was so defensive about this issue in particular. He knew what it was like to be beaten for something you couldn't control. It wasn't Kise's fault he was too pretty for his own good. "Kagami-kun is a good person Aomine-kun. He's letting you stay isn't he?"

"Yeah, yeah, probably just because of Akashi," Aomine deflected.

"Actually Daiki, I merely asked that Ryouta be given sanctuary, he extended the invitation to the rest of us on his own." Akashi corrected, finding amusement in the situation.

This was going to be an interesting evening.


	11. Night Moves

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A little character development never hurt anyone

Chapter Eleven

Night Moves

The cleaning went surprisingly well with four people working on it plus one supervisor. A nice bonus of that was Kuroko and Kagami could occasionally brush up against each other, or just touch in general, and it wouldn't be seen as a big deal. They hadn't talked much about what was growing between them, but neither could deny that something most certainly was.

With the cleaning soon done Kagami and his unexpected guests were soon lounging in the living room with the rest of Kise's cookies quickly disappearing from their valiant efforts.

Aomine and Kagami were sprawled indecorously on the floor, relinquishing the couch to Kuroko, Kise, and Akashi with the shadow in the center of the trio. Aomine was the one scanning the apartment. "Do you really live here by yourself?"

"Yeah, dad was supposed to live here too but the company told him to stay in America. I was already enrolled in school, and my parents had planned on renting the apartment so they let me come anyway." Kagami explained, figuring it wasn't something worth fighting over to not answer.

"What company do your parents work for?" Akashi asked, his own family heavily involved in the business world.

"Masamoto Enterprises, and they don't work for them, they own it. The company came to them through my mother's side, Masamoto was her unmarried name." Kagami explained.

Both Kise and Aomine's eyes widened into expressions of shock, but Akashi and Kuroko managed to stay composed. "Really?!" Kise broke out first, almost in awe. "That huge company, don't they have offices like everywhere?"

"Yeah, three in America, I'm not sure how many in this continent, and I think there are a few in Europe." Kagami admitted.

"You have one in Japan, South Korea, and Singapore, two in China, plus another in Hong Kong. As far as Europe you have four in the European Union and two in the periphery. Your newest locations are in North America which could explain why they are in more need of the owner's direct presence." To the other's surprise it was Akashi that answered. "Masamoto Enterprises is one of our bigger rivals. I was taught all the locations of the next three companies in the business world so I can conduct proper meetings when the time comes." He informed without prompting, fully aware of his player's curiosity. "Your family owns two less locations than the Akashi conglomerate Taiga."

Kuroko had remained silent, but he couldn't keep quiet any longer. "Why didn't you tell anyone on the team?" Just the barest hint of accusation was in his voice.

"I didn't think it was a big deal," Kagami admitted, "My family has money, so what? I'm still the same person. I was never real interested in running the company. The only thing it really means is if I don't play professional basketball I know I have a job waiting for me. I was actually going to talk to you about that Akashi when I had a chance to speak to you alone, but I guess now works. Don't worry about giving me a scholarship, I don't need it, put it towards the charity." The other red-head simply nodded in understanding.

The shadow wasn't quite done with his light though, "Would you have ever told us?" Kuroko further probed.

"If something came up that I needed to, yes." Kagami assured. "I don't want it changing anything though. In my head I'm just one of the guys, no matter what my bank account says. I can promise you though that if things hadn't worked out those few times we were short, I would have covered it. Like when we went to that steak place and when we had dinner here the first time."

Akashi was the one to smoothly shift the topic a bit, "Your parents are not angry you do not want to take over?"

"They're a little disappointed," Kagami confessed, "But they would rather leave the company in the hands of someone who actually wants to do it and is good at management. I wouldn't do a very good job, because I don't like business or the politics around it very much. My parents are actually paying for my cousin to go to college so he can take over when the time comes."

"That must be an interesting way to live Taiga," Akashi mused. "It is much different for the Akashi family. Firstborns really don't have a choice, we are raised knowing what is expected of us and it is a big insult if we are passed over for someone else; it means we are viewed as completely incompetent. The only thing worse is disowning, but even then there isn't all that much difference."

Kagami was stunned, "That's horrible!"

"No, it's life, at least for me anyway," Akashi refuted calmly. "I do have a little freedom, like playing basketball, but I am still expected to be the best in games while maintaining my grades. There is no such thing as second place to the Akashi family."

He couldn't help himself, he really couldn't, Kagami always had been a bit reckless. "What happened when you lost to us?"

Heterochromatic eyes narrowed, "And what business is that of yours?"

"I just want to make sure we didn't cause you to get hurt!" Kagami defended himself, resisting the urge to cower, but only barely. Akashi's presence was as strong as ever when he wanted it to be. "Your family sounds so extreme, can you really blame me for being concerned?"

"I would like to know the answer too Akashi-kun," Kuroko added on, agreeing with Kagami's worry. He knew from the start something big must have changed for this showcase idea to be accepted.

Akashi sighed regally, if such a thing was possible, "I was reprimanded severely, but managed to avoid further punishment by pointing out the vast amount of media coverage tournaments could get. I spun that knowledge together with my idea for the charity, and he agreed to give it a try to get our name back in favor in the press, but, well, there was a consequence."

He was reluctant, no doubt about it, the absolute emperor was unable to hide that from those around him.

"You should tell us," Kuroko nudged, the others nodding in curiosity. "Friends help each other deal with difficult situations."

"I've been cut off." Akashi finally admitted after a long moment. "They are paying for my schooling and anything necessary to keep me safe such as the car that brought me here since I have the same problem as Ryouta in that I should not travel alone. I am still in line to inherit the company, but until the day I assume control I have to make my own way. Luckily I was granted a generous allowance before this happened so I have enough saved up it will last until I graduate Rakuzan so long as I spend judiciously. I had to make a deal to prove to my father how serious I was about this idea. One of the first rules of strategy, some sacrifices must be made for the greater good."

There was so much they wanted to say but didn't know how, and Akashi knew it, "If I wanted to discuss it in depth I would have brought it up before now. Just let it rest, I have made my choice."

They all nodded, but it was Kise who spoke, "Who is really in charge of the charity Akashicchi?"

"I am," No need to lie. "My father is putting money into it for publicity's sake, but it is my job to make sure this is a success. If this fails then I really will lose my place in the company. This is my chance to prove myself after my failure."

"All this over a basketball game?" Aomine couldn't let it go. "Don't get me wrong, I love basketball, but this seems extreme."

"It's not the game, it's the principal of the issue," Akashi attempted to explain. "I am expected to excel and win at whatever I choose to do, otherwise at best our hobbies are considered a waste of time, and at worst they sully the family name."

"You came in second, at a national tournament, for a team sport. How can your family hold that against you?" Kagami was still confused, and the others were right with him on that.

"A good leader is one who achieves victory at all costs, it is almost worse for me that basketball is a team sport. I have far less freedom of position." Akashi admitted, "I know this is difficult for an outsider to understand, but this is just my life and I am used to it, may we please discuss something else?"

"Yeah, whatever," Kagami allowed, "What do you guys like for breakfast?"

No one was real picky, so Kagami figured he had enough stuff lying around he could pull something together. His large appetite kind of lent itself to stockpiling food like a bear before hibernation.

The side effect of the situation though was now there were five teenaged boys in his living room, and his apartment didn't have a whole lot to offer in the name of entertainment. Luckily they did all have something in common though.

"I know a court nearby with street lights, we could go there and play a few games?" Kagami offered, spying his basketball in the corner.

That made Kise burst out in a bit of laughter, "Do you really only think about food and basketball? First impressions are right with you then."

"Well sorry for wanting to be a good host!" Kagami shot back, neck reddening a bit.

"Ah, Kise, I think that's how all of us here think." Aomine pointed out. "Though maybe not Akashi." He added on as a crimson eyebrow rose in surprise.

"Do you want to play or not?" Kagami challenged, breaking up the byplay between Aomine and Kise before the Rakuzan captain could respond.

Instead of answering with words the boys simply started getting ready to leave, Kagami thinking ahead and grabbing his radio out of his room. He liked having noise in the background when playing.

The court was a bit shabby, the hoops worn and three out of four were missing their nets, but it would work for what they had planned. "Who's going first?" Kagami asked, eyeing up the hoop and Aomine, itching for a rematch.

"I would like the chance to evaluate everyone closer." Akashi spoke up, "I intend to play all of you one-on-one before the night is over. Any volunteers?"

"I'll do it Akashicchi!" Kise responded before the others had processed Akashi's words.

Akashi nodded, and held his arm out for Kagami to give him the ball, "Get ready Ryouta, no holding back, and that goes for all of you." He warned as Kise came to face off against him.

The court was run down enough there wasn't bleachers, so Aomine, Kagami, and Kuroko just slumped down onto the pavement by the fence, Kagami not messing with the radio just yet, since they were not playing they had the opportunity to watch and comment.

Kagami had now played against Kise twice, and the other two had played on the same team for two years. They knew his style well enough to judge progress, and they had to admit to being impressed. He could keep up with Akashi's speed, and was managing to put pressure on him despite the overwhelming presence Akashi could command.

"He's gotten even better since last time!" Kagami choked out, "It hasn't even been a month, but is it just me or is something wrong with him?" While his speed was amazing, everything else appeared to be taking a toll, a simple jump shot was taking way more energy out of him then it should.

Kuroko nodded, "I think so."

"Definitely," Aomine added, watching the match with narrowed eyes, both Kise's footwork and Akashi's expression. "Akashi is going to call this match right…about…now," And as the last syllable of Aomine's comment faded away the ex-captain forced the copy-cat to stop.

"What am I doing wrong Akashicchi?" Kise asked with innocent confusion, a little too innocent.

"I thought so, but this proves it, you've been doing it again." Akashi responded simply.

Kise looked resigned, "Doing what exactly?" There was still some hope anyway.

"Pushing yourself too hard, too fast." Akashi reported, eyes scanning down pale limbs, "You keep stressing your legs and ankles." Now his tone grew accusing, "You've been trying to copy Taiga haven't you?"

Kise looked down and nodded, "I've been trying since that weekend we all got together, I'm almost there but not yet. I haven't figured out what I need to adjust to fit me."

"Stop that right now." Akashi ordered. "Haven't you noticed? Some moves are much easier for you to learn than others. You hurt yourself the most when you copy moves that involve too much lower body strength, you are fast and agile but not strong anywhere below the waist. Instead of copying each person individually, learn to combine the best of all of us, and do it so it is in-tune with your own body. I would recommend using the speed of Daiki and I, plus the controlled and precise strength of Shintaro. Avoid copying Taiga or Atsushi, their skills will drain you faster and make you less effective in the long run. You have progressed enough you need to concentrate not on learning skills blindly but figuring out which ones are worth learning. Just because you can copy a move does not mean you should." Kise's skill was both a curse and a blessing. Akashi didn't doubt with time he could learn to do a lane-up, but the physical cost of learning it was simply not worth it for Kise. He was not built to handle the explosive strength of Kagami's jumps, he could endure for far longer if he channeled his energy into speed rather than jumping.

Kise just sighed, he could guess most of what Akashi had left unsaid, so he did understand even if he didn't really like being told to back down. "How should I do it?"

"I want you to concentrate weight training on your arms and shoulders, and endurance training on your legs. I would suggest a mix of sprints and long distance running. I'll play Daiki next, watch him very carefully, and then watch again when I play Taiga, you will see the difference between them and understand what I mean. The training I recommended for you is a hybrid of their skills." Akashi laid out, he had been planning out the best way to move forward with his players since the last time they met on the court.

Kise was almost back to the watching trio when Akashi called out to him. "You played well Ryouta, I am honing your skill, not undermining it. I want your talent to grow without you getting injured, understand?" Kise visibly pulled himself more together, raising his head and nodding. "Good, now send out Daiki."

There was no lead up in the battle between Akashi and Aomine. "Is it always like that between them?" Kagami asked in awe, watching the two clash was both exhilarating and terrifying.

"Yes," Kuroko confirmed. "Akashi-kun knows how to bring out Aomine-kun's strength. He did it for all of us. The way Akashi-kun plays changes depending on who his opponent is. Kise-kun understands that, he does the same thing."

Kise didn't respond since he was ignoring Kuroko and Kagami in favor of watching the match between Aomine and Akashi with new eyes. His ability to learn so fast stemmed from being able to see and understand moves instinctively. What people had been pushing him into doing lately was to stop doing it unconsciously and instead do it mindfully. If he had a better grasp of his own limitations, plus a firmer idea of how different moves worked he would be an even deadlier player.

Akashi was pointing out something about Aomine that a lot of people missed, and he was very deliberately exaggerating it during their match. Aomine wasn't strong. The way he attacked during a game was based on speed and agility, the same things Akashi had told Kise he had, but his insane shots didn't require half the strength of a typical three pointer much less Midorima's long shots.

Basically Aomine's unorthodox style hid the fact he didn't have the sheer strength of most other players, instead he had found a way to play up his true skills. That was what Akashi was trying to get Kise to see, and now the copycat felt he truly understood him for the first time.

The match ended with Akashi winning, but he had broken a sweat facing off against the wild ace. Something that didn't happen that often for Akashi in a one-on-one anymore. He did have a few criticisms though, "I told you not to hold back, that does not mean to get completely reckless." He chastised. "You forget to control yourself in the heat of a game. Your joints can't keep up with what you are demanding; that is the weakness of agility. Your body has to be flexible enough to obey your wishes, unfortunately basketball is a game that encourages bulkier muscles for dribbling and shooting but that is a detriment to flexibility. In the future focus on building lean muscle in general. There are exercises that focus on flexibility rather than strength, find those and work on them."

"Fine," Aomine was sulking, mainly because he lost, but the advice made sense though so he didn't do more than grumble a bit as he pointed to Kagami and jerked his hand backwards wordlessly telling him it was his turn against Akashi.

Now it was time for Kise to work on comparing the two, while distractedly informing Kuroko and Aomine about the challenge Akashi had given him, allowing the other two to help him put the pieces in place.

Once again Akashi was emphasizing exactly what he wanted Kise to see. This was Akashi's own way of apologizing for the trouble he caused the copycat. He intended to pay all of his former teammates back, with interest. At the hospital he had even had a short discussion with Riko and Hyuuga about what he was working on for his players. He would see them through this showcase and make sure they all grew in their talents without consequences. He owed them that much and more.

What he was trying to convey to Kise was that Kagami's power was exactly opposite Aomine's though no less potent. What Kagami lacked in agility he made up for in brute strength. Most of it focused on his insane jumps, but at the same time the rest of his body was being carefully conditioned to balance out that skill. Akashi found himself even more impressed with Riko's talent. The score was a closer match than the previous two, with Kagami's aerial attacks Akashi's height became more of an impediment. As long as he had dependable teammates Akashi could typically ignore his stature, but on his own he had to find ways of compensating on the ground.

After watching Kise and Aomine play Akashi, Kagami was prepared for the critique when it came, "You are being well prepared to handle your talent. I stand by what I said last time in that you have nearly reached your limit in the air but I can tell you have been working on distance and endurance, good. You are like Shintaro, the more endurance you can back up your skill with the better. You have a limit to the number of jumps you can make, extend that limit by mixing in lower impact moves that put less pressure on your ankles and knees."

Of course that meant it was Kuroko's turn, and this time there was no specific order directing the watcher's gaze, meaning that while Kagami's eyes were glued to the shadow the two opposing aces were watching him just as attentively.

Yellow met dark blue, and a nod passed between them, Aomine taking the lead as Kise waved him on, "Like what you see?" He started conversationally, but his voice had an edge to it.

Kagami turned towards Aomine so quickly Kise winced at the crack his protesting vertebrae gave off. "Yeah, so what? Those two play a really good game." He recovered quickly, but the initial reaction proved to the Miracles he was attempting to hide something from them.

"Uh huh, just the game right?" Aomine asked drily, not buying it. "So that wasn't you staring at Tetsu's ass?"

"I was not!" Kagami shot back, scandalized, except well, maybe he had taken a peek or two, sue him Kuroko looked good while playing.

"I see, Kagamicchi is looking at Akashicchi maybe?!" Kise added in his two cents enthusiastically.

Even more aggressively, "No! Why would I be looking at them like that?"

"Because they look good?" Aomine put forth lazily, on the surface at least, inside he was about to burst from holding in laughter.

"I wasn't looking at anyone," Kagami continued to protest, not liking where this was going one bit.

"Oh yes you were," Aomine was not going to leave this alone.

Kise broke in once more, "Not like we can blame you too much though, Kurokocchi is nice to look at." He proclaimed honestly.

That made Kagami's red eyes move swiftly from Aomine to Kise, "What did you just say?"

"You heard him dumbass," Aomine responded in Kise's place. "We were looking too."

"Are you just trying to mess with me?" Kagami asked suspiciously, the past coming to the forefront of his mind.

"Why would we do that?" Kise seemed honestly surprised. "Kurokocchi wouldn't like it if we got into a fight with you when you're being nice about us staying. We have already done enough to upset him before, I don't want to do it again."

"Look man, this is one thing we don't mess around with," Aomine finally admitted, "We might tease you, but that's just what we do, it's not about anything specific when it comes to this stuff. Go ahead and check him out, but you hurt him and you're dead!" He warned so seriously there wasn't a shred of doubt in Kagami's mind that he was being completely honest.

"Besides Kurokocchi was looking at you the same way when you were playing Akashicchi," Kise informed, noticing Kagami had a sore spot about this topic and he had meant it earlier when he said he wasn't going to upset Kuroko by picking a fight.

Kagami found his hackles lowering slowly, "He was?"

"Yeah, not really a surprise though," Kise admitted. "Kurokocchi depends on you a lot, don't screw it up like we did."

"So…" Kagami began hesitantly, "You're not pissed off at me?"

"Did you do something that we should be?" Aomine accused, "If not then no, this is Tetsu's choice, we are not big enough assholes to take that from him no matter what you might think of us."

"Are you three done talking about me yet?" The stoic voice made all three aces freeze, only to look up at the now much more intimidating form of Kuroko looming over them, Akashi standing a few paces back fighting off a smirk at the kid caught with their hand in the cookie jar expressions.

"It's not what it sounds like!" Kagami insisted as soon as his voice came back to him.

"Oh?" Kuroko sounded distinctly unimpressed. "It certainly sounded like you were discussing something that would have been better talked about with me actually here. So what exactly is the choice I supposedly have to make?"

Kise tried to talk, only to get a not so subtle kick from Kagami to shut him up, "It really isn't a big deal," Kagami once again tried to assure.

"Not buying it, so just answer the question." Kuroko was doing a wonderful job of hiding the fact he desperately wanted to burst into laughter at the situation. He may have overheard a tad more than he had let on, instead he wanted to see what it would take for any of the three to admit it, particularly Kagami.

"Yeah Bakagami, tell him," Aomine didn't even bother to hide his wide grin.

That just made Kagami snap back, "You started it Ahomine!"

"Started what?" Kuroko was adding fuel to the fire, but it was all in the name of fun.

"They noticed okay," Kagami ground out eventually. "Nothing too bad, but they wouldn't leave it alone."

That got Akashi involved, "What did those two notice?" He knew of course, he had noticed long before tonight that things were different. He also had the advantage of being in contact with a very large purple birdy that didn't mind passing information along.

"Kagamicchi was just enjoying the view," Kise supplied brightly, once again using his mock-innocent voice that fooled absolutely no one.

"Tetsu seemed to like the scenery too," Aomine pointed out, still grinning at the duo, it was funny to see the blush growing on both of them.

If it was anyone other than Kagami looking at Kuroko in that way, there would be hell to pay, but the Miracles knew no matter what happened that Kagami would never deliberately hurt him. They were trusting their shadow to his light, for now anyway.

Okay it didn't hurt that Aomine and Kise weren't just watching Kuroko play, they may have spared a glance at the others too. Kuroko could definitely do much worse than Kagami, though they were dead serious with any threats.

"Should I be asking what your intentions towards Tetsuya are Taiga?" Akashi inquired placidly, something that was very worrying from Kagami's perspective.

"Nothing that he doesn't want," Kagami was very quick to assure, this time being as honest as possible. "It is up to him what happens, I won't make him do anything."

"I really wish you would all stop treating me like I'm delicate," Kuroko interrupted. "I appreciate the concern but I am capable of handling myself and as you so nicely put it Aomine-kun, it is my choice after all."

"I will never make the mistake of thinking you are delicate," Akashi immediately refuted. "I am simply following tradition. I would do the same for someone with intentions towards any of the others, so please do not feel like I am singling you out."

"Nice save," Aomine muttered, but kept quiet beyond that. He couldn't help it, sometimes he forgot just because Kuroko was small compared to their six foot plus bodies it did not mean he wasn't tough. He was actually average height and at least a little stronger than most other guys their age, it was the situation that made him look tiny.

"Good," Kuroko conveniently ignored his first light's comment. "Now didn't we come here to play basketball?"

Knowing the topic was being very firmly changed, the others allowed it and sprang to their feet ready to play some more, Kagami switching on the nearly forgotten radio before joining them on the court. That had been enough talking for a little while anyway.

It was an exhausted and sweaty knot of basketball players that stumbled back to Kagami's apartment a few hours later, Kagami giving out fresh clothes and divvying up shower time so everyone could get cleaned up.

His clothing was a near exact fit for Aomine and Kise, but Akashi and Kuroko ended up practically swimming in leftover fabric. A few covert pictures were taken as the two smaller males glared up at them, daring the taller ones to comment on the fact Kagami's loose shorts came below their knees, and the shoulders of the shirts refused to stay in place, sliding down their arms.

Kagami was nearly 6'3 and preferred loose clothing, compare that to Akashi's 5'7 or Kuroko's 5'6 and you get a pair of irritated players that looked like they just raided their father's closet.

"At least they aren't Murasakibara-kun's," Kuroko attempted to look on the bright side.

Akashi visibly shuddered, "Don't even joke about that. I don't think we would ever live it down."

"This is going to be hard enough," Kuroko agreed picking at the soft black fabric. Oh well, at least it was clean and comfortable, not really worth getting too worked up over.

It was Kise who switched topics, "So where exactly is everyone going to sleep?"

"The apartment has two bedrooms since it was supposed to be dad and me here." Kagami informed. "There is also the couch and a futon I can drag out. I get one of the bedrooms because it's my house, you guys get to work out the rest by yourselves."

"Ah, Kagamicchi, that's four beds for five people." Kise pointed out.

"That's simple, Tetsuya and I will share one bed, Taiga gets the other as he pointed out, and Ryouta I suggest you work something out with Daiki about your own arrangements." Akashi laid out. As much as he did not like to admit he was on the small side, it would be much easier for him and Kuroko to share sleeping space than any of the larger players. There was also the added bonus of keeping Kuroko and Kagami separate. While he had no immediate objections to their relationship, he did not like the thought of them being too close while they were all staying together.

No one was willing to argue with the emperor, though Kagami looked like it was taking monumental effort not to. Instead he busied himself with digging out the futon while Kise and Aomine played a few rounds of rock paper scissors to decide who would sleep where; Kise being relegated to the couch.

The day's ups and downs took its toll and soon there were varying levels of snoring heard in the apartment. Kagami was having trouble sleeping though, and he apparently was not the only one as around two in the morning he heard his door open quietly and a relatively light body get into his bed curling against him. He draped his arm loosely around Kuroko and spoke quietly. "It was nice having everyone here tonight." He admitted now that they were alone.

"Yes it was," Kuroko agreed. "I'm sorry they ambushed you, but they mean well most of the time. I know it's weird to think like this, but if they like you enough to include you in their teasing it means they accept you. Anyone they don't respect isn't shown that side of themselves."

"It does take a while to get used to, but I'm getting there," Kagami assured, thinking it over. "I was happy today when they were talking to me about you, they showed how much they care about you. I know it means a lot to you to have them acting that way again."

Kuroko stayed silent for a moment, formulating the right response. "I don't like being treated like a little kid, or having everyone make it seem like I absolutely must be protected. It gets annoying. I want people to see me as someone who can take care of myself. I truly do appreciate that they care, and had good intentions, but all the same I'm not made of glass."

"Kuroko, I have never treated you like glass, ever." Kagami pointed out. "Remember those few times we really got mad at each other? We both threw punches. I would never hit someone who couldn't handle it, I know what it is like to get beat up on by someone stronger than me and I won't make someone else feel like that. I do have a bad temper, and I know it, so sometimes I get out of control but I do my best to make sure no one gets hurt because of me."

"Like you said, I can handle it," Kuroko assured, squeezing his hand, "I seem to remember hitting you first at least once." He added on.

"True," Kagami remembered, wrapping his arms tighter and pulling Kuroko closer, "If we decide to give whatever this is a real try, I will never, ever, hit you again."

"I don't really know how to phrase this," Kuroko replied slowly, "But I don't think that is a promise you should make, at least, not with us. When we hit each other, it wasn't because we were truly angry, we were just giving each other the wake-up call we needed. Kagami-kun I would like to try a relationship with you, and I mean that. I want it to be you, the same person you were beforehand. Don't try to turn our life into a fairytale, because this isn't one. How about we just be us and see what happens?"

Kagami could see where he was coming from, they had a strong partnership already, changing too much would be asking for disaster. "I like the sound of that." He finally agreed, brushing light blue hair away from the back of Kuroko's neck and laid a kiss on pale skin. "I think I love you." He whispered.

Kuroko turned over to give him a real kiss, "I think I love you too," He whispered back just as quietly. They adjusted themselves a bit so Kuroko could put his head on Kagami's chest to hear his heart beat, the pair of them slowly drifting off to sleep.

From their late night they did not expect to be the first ones up, and they definitely did not expect the state in which they found the other Miracles. For one, the couch was empty, and the reason for that was currently curled tightly around Aomine Daiki, long pale limbs and gold hair spilling all over the place as Kise did a remarkable impression of an octopus while holding onto the Touou ace.

Both of them were still deeply asleep and only half covered as the movement during the night had thrown off the blankets.

More pictures were taken before Kuroko and Kagami got a truly evil idea into their heads. Kuroko went over to the balcony doors, sliding open the blinds to let the bright sunshine in, while Kagami went to quickly jerk the blanket the rest of the way off.

Disgruntled groans were the result and the ball o' player just compacted more as they both attempted to bury their faces against each other to block the light.

"Never took Aomine for a cuddler, though for Kise can't say I'm surprised." Kagami admitted, just shaking his head at their stubbornness.

"It can be nearly impossible to escape them when they get in these moods, trust me, I've tried." Kuroko commented, the gentle smile on his face a treat for Kagami.

"You really were very close with all of them, weren't you?" The comment seemed to lend itself to that.

"Yes," Kuroko responded with nostalgia.

Kagami couldn't stop his own smile from appearing, "Then I am glad they're coming back to their senses." He slid up behind Kuroko, putting his arms around him and kissing his neck. "I just want you to be happy."

"I am." Kuroko responded sincerely, leaning backwards and tilting his head up to meet Kagami's lips.


	12. Crush

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> uh-oh, caught!

Chapter Twelve

Crush

The easiest way of waking up a pack of teenaged boys was through food. Kagami working in the kitchen with a little assistance from Kuroko was enough to pull Aomine and Kise out of their warm ball, and soon Akashi was coming out of the bedroom and it took everything the owner of the apartment had not to burst out laughing. He was used to Kuroko's admittedly adorable bedhead, but seeing Akashi with a near exact match was unexpected but all the more entertaining.

If Akashi realized what was running through Kagami's head he didn't comment on it, but that's not to say he didn't have an observation to make, "Don't think I missed you slipping out Tetsuya. I thought we agreed you would stay with me?" He had noticed the bed was cold and the pillow on Kuroko's side was barely used, making it easy to guess it had not been slept in.

"Why didn't you stop me then?" Kuroko asked curiously.

When the only reply was stubborn silence Kagami commented, "You were asleep weren't you? You're just guessing."

"Perhaps," Akashi responded regally, "It does not change the fact that Tetsuya did not wake up in the bed he was intended to fall asleep in."

"Oh relax," Kagami brushed off, "Both our virtues are intact. We didn't do anything but talk and sleep."

"Wait you had virtue to lose?" Aomine asked, still a bit groggy, but not phased a bit by the fact he had been used as a pillow by his old teammate the night before.

Kagami rolled his eyes, "Not like I had a whole lot of opportunity for that to change unless I wanted to get my ass kicked again." Of course as soon as the sentence was over, there was a slowly dawning look of remorse as he realized just what he had said.

Akashi was the first to pounce, "What do you mean by again?"

"Look, just let it go, it's been a couple years since then." Kagami busied himself with making sure he didn't burn the bacon as a way of not looking anyone in the eye without seeming like he was a coward.

A slim hand settled on his shoulder and Kuroko's calm voice was a bit soothing as he spoke, "It's okay to talk about it here Kagami-kun, I think you might discover something important."

If his shadow was asking it of him, Kagami would do it, so he started talking slowly. "I grew up in LA, it's not the gentlest of places," He admitted. "It doesn't take much to spark a fight, you saw what Alex and Tatsuya can do Kise when you found us with Haizaki, learning to defend ourselves was necessary. Only when I messed up there were too many for me to fight alone, and I got pretty beat up before those two got there to help get them off me."

Aomine looked like he wanted to punch something, "How exactly did you mess up?"

"I kissed someone I shouldn't have, in a public place." Kagami still wasn't looking at anyone as he filled plates.

"Not that shit again," Aomine practically growled. "I know how you feel."

That managed to royally piss off Kagami, "How in the hell could you know?" He demanded.

"Shut up and listen damn it," Aomine yelled right back, "I know." He restated with more emphasis. "It happened to me too dumbass."

That brought Kagami up short, eyes shooting up to meet his rival, "What?!"

"You think you're the only one? Please, get over yourself." He ordered. "I'm not gay, but let's just say there are times I'm not above taking advantage of an opportunity." He jerked his thumb towards Kise, "We used to play one-on-one most nights after practice. Sometimes stuff happened afterwards. That night he had nearly beaten me, a one point difference, so he was a bit overexcited and kissed me in the gym instead of the locker room like usual. I was worked up too, and hey he's hot, so I kissed back." That statement made it so Aomine was now trying to ignore a practically sparkling Kise that was undoubtedly preening. "It wasn't a big deal to us, it had happened before, and it wasn't the last time either. The problem was my mom had sent my dad to come get me that night, it was supposed to storm and she didn't want me walking alone on a rainy night. He gave me a good cuff to the jaw, but that's as far as he went physically, just a lot of yelling after that."

"That's it?" Kagami asked suspiciously, sure it sucked, but a single punch wasn't comparing in his head with broken bones.

"Of course not," That was not Aomine, Kise had taken over. "The next day when he came into school with a bruise on his face, rumors flew over who would dare hit Aomine Daiki the Ace player of the school. Aominecchi eventually told the truth when the newest theory was a Yakuza initiation. We were so young then that we didn't realize just how bad some people would take it. It was Murasakibaracchi that rescued him, he was so big already no one wanted to test him, but as soon as we got the story out of Aominecchi I knew it was my fault those morons went after him. I started the whole thing, but if they had attacked me they would have gotten caught sooner and punished much harsher, even then I was always followed by fans during school."

Aomine took control again, "Stop that Kise, you weren't the one throwing punches." He attempted to knock some sense into the copycat before returning his attention to Kagami, "Why do you think I'm so blunt about liking big boobs? I do, don't get me wrong, but I expend a lot of effort proving it."

"What happened to the ones who beat you?" Kagami's hackles were slowly lowering as he realized Aomine really did understand and wasn't just messing around.

"I took care of it," Akashi interjected. "There are several ways to get a student expelled if you are willing to look for them. Getting police involved would have caused issues with the media because we were already getting written up in magazines. We didn't need that kind of publicity."

"It wasn't like I wanted it to get out," Aomine added. "I don't have a problem admitting it to people I know, but there isn't any reason I should have to tell anyone else."

Kagami was now rapidly looking back and forth between the four miracles in his apartment, "You two were really like that?" He practically squeaked getting amused nods, before he rounded on Akashi, "And you covered for them?"

"Why wouldn't I?" Akashi responded testily. "Those two were my players, and thus my responsibility. Atsushi kept the assault from getting so bad we couldn't take care of it quietly, so that's what we agreed to do between us."

Kuroko decided to pick on his Light a bit, both to diffuse the tension, and to help along the process of getting his new life integrated with his old one. "Kagami-kun, no one in this room is straight." He commented, easily hiding his smile from long years of practice.

Once again Kagami put his full attention towards Akashi, he was pretty sure his brain was melting at that point. "Really?" He questioned tentatively.

The smaller red-head sighed, "Yes." He responded, "Why would Tetsuya lie?"

"I, uh, just wasn't expecting it," Kagami attempted to backtrack quickly.

Even Akashi looked amused, "I would have assumed you of all people would understand that not all of us have to stand out, considering you yourself have gone unnoted since your return to Japan. I am comfortable with my sexuality, but I do not broadcast it or my father would be, well, displeased is probably the best word for it."

"Akashicchi was the reason the rest of us felt safe experimenting a bit," Kise added. "We knew if he caught us we wouldn't get in trouble so long as we weren't doing anything too graphic."

"Really Kise? Only a bit? I think it was a lot more than that," Aomine corrected. "Well, okay, to be fair Murasakibara never joined in and Midorima didn't do it very often, for the rest of us though, that was one long experiment."

Kise shrugged with a helpless look and sunny smile, "It wasn't a good idea for me to try anything too forward with the fangirls, I could get in trouble faster than you can say lawsuit. Nothing with them ever went past casual dating, and even then I didn't like taking the chance unless they forced the issue. Hate to say it but Haizaki kind of did me a favor, that girl was particularly determined."

Kagami felt comfortable enough to ask the next question, not knowing it was one his brother had already asked. "So if you aren't straight, what are you?"

"A circle," Kise responded teasingly, only to actually answer the question when Kagami's neck started to turn red in irritation. "I'm the anything goes type, but I already explained why that can be a problem. It's a lot safer if I only really attempt physical things with people I trust, and since the majority of people I trust are male that has been the way things have gone for me."

Aomine decided to butt in, "If you haven't figured it out for me, I like women, but I have made exceptions for a very few males before. I have a very specific type of personality when it comes to them."

"Let me guess, they have to love basketball?" Kagami figured that was a safe guess, considering he had the same tendency.

"That's a start," Aomine admitted, "But they have to play a good game too, I don't like sideliners that never push themselves to be better."

"I don't like admitting this, but we really do think alike don't we?" Kagami was forced to acknowledge.

"Maybe a little bit," Kise poked fun at them with a wicked little smirk, "Especially when it comes to Kurokocchi."

"That's not fair!" Aomine immediately protested, "You're just as bad as we are!"

"Never said I wasn't," Kise was sparkling again, and it made Aomine glower at him.

Akashi was able to silence all of them just by clearing his throat, "This is not a competition and Tetsuya is not a prize."

"Thank you Akashi-kun," Kuroko responded gratefully. Having three of his brighter Lights fighting over him was a little overwhelming.

He was shocked still though as a sudden evil gleam appeared in heterochromatic eyes, "Because if this was a competition you would lose, I am absolute." Akashi reminded, this time the others catching the joke in the high and mighty tone.

It was worth it to see Kuroko's expressionless face take on a look of pure betrayal.

"Oh no you don't, Tsuya is mine," Kagami claimed immediately, playfully pulling Kuroko against his solid body and glaring at the others.

"Wait, Tsuya? What the hell?" Aomine caught on, just barely refraining from vaulting the counter and removing his Tetsu from Kagami's person. The only thing stopping him was Kuroko didn't seem to be protesting.

"Well everyone else calls him something different!" Kagami defended himself, hugging his shadow closer. "I thought I'd try it too." He caught himself though, "You don't mind do you?" He questioned the smaller player he was holding.

Kuroko shook his head while responding, "I don't mind," He paused for a moment, "Taiga-Kun." Aomine, Kise, and Akashi were pretty sure in that moment that Kagami's entire body had just turned beet red and his eyes glazed over.

"Uh, Kurokocchi, I think you broke Kagamicchi." Kise couldn't resist teasing.

Kuroko shrugged, and because he did have a bit of a cruel streak in him, he pressed back against Kagami until he was practically snuggling against him. "He's the only one of you that bothered to ask me about a nickname." He responded simply.

The power forward had his face hidden in the crook of the Shadow's neck, still burning with embarrassment, however friction was adding an extra dimension to his discomfort, forcing him to whisper, "Could you please stand still?" He requested in a breathless voice, desperately hoping he wouldn't be overheard.

"Having a little problem there Kagami?" Aomine dashed his hopes.

"No, no problem at all! What makes you say that?" Kagami burst out, defending himself quickly, picking his head up though the flaming red tone was not helping his cause.

A tanned finger pointed to Kuroko, "Because I know Tetsu." He bragged, "So, let me guess, need a minute?"

"I'm fine," Kagami insisted while carefully stepping away from Kuroko, though it wasn't lost that he not-so-subtly kept the kitchen counter between himself and the others in the room; shielding his lower body from view.

"Nice restraint," Aomine commented again. "Oh and if you think he is not doing it on purpose, you're wrong."

It was the Touou Ace's turn to be on the receiving end of Kuroko's betrayed expression, "Don't look at me like that. It was you who wanted us all to play nice with Bakagami, I'm just doing what you asked."

"You didn't have to tell him that," Kuroko responded calmly, tone completely unfazed.

"He would have figured it out eventually, just like we did," Aomine defended himself. "I didn't stop you from trying it with him, at least now Bakagami knows it wasn't an accident. I'm doing you a favor."

"Am I missing something?" Kagami asked Kise and Akashi as his gaze flopped between Aomine and Kuroko.

"If you're anything like the rest of us, you probably thought Kurokocchi isn't really interested in sex right?" Kise responded bluntly, startling Kagami into giving a slow nod. "We are saving you the pain of figuring out that isn't exactly true. He doesn't ask directly, he hints, it's our job to put it together."

While Kagami was still too startled to respond to Kise, Akashi went in for the kill, "I will repeat warnings from yesterday, you do anything to harm Tetsuya and no one will find the body, however; he has chosen you. Take care of him and you have our blessing."

"Whoa, okay for one I will never hurt him, but you guys are treating him like a princess. Relax, if I ever did anything he didn't want I doubt there would be enough left of me for you to find." Not just Kuroko would get revenge, the Seirin team also was highly protective of their shadow.

"Here is what you need to understand," Akashi started seriously. "He is our treasure, and has done things for us that we can never repay. Trusting him to you is like serving up everything precious to us on a platter and giving it over to your care. Keep that firmly in your head and you will know why we are overprotective."

There was a put-upon sigh heard through the apartment, "Not this again," Kuroko observed.

"Forgive us Tetsuya, but you brought this one on yourself," Akashi explained. "If you had intended for us to stay out of it, then perhaps you should not have attempted to provoke Taiga with us in the room."

"The opportunity too good to pass up Tetsu?" Aomine realized, as a faint blush rose on Kuroko's cheeks.

"That is none of your business Aomine-kun," Kuroko refuted.

Of course the fun couldn't last forever because they all heard Kise swear under his breath, having just thought to check his phone. "I have to go, my agent booked a shoot for today without telling me first."

"Your clothes from yesterday are in the dryer," Kagami reminded as the blonde started to gather his things.

"I guess I should probably go home before Satsuki comes to find me," Aomine decided.

"What is she, your babysitter?" Kagami couldn't stop himself from getting the dig in.

Aomine glared at his rival, "Trust me, if you knew her like I do you wouldn't be saying that. She is way too close to my mother for my own good."

Kagami thought he heard wrong, "Don't you mean her own good?"

"No, I mean mine," Aomine corrected. "They can be like a couple of harpies if I'm not careful."

"Now that was uncalled for Daiki," Akashi chastised. "Your mother is a very nice woman and Satsuki is an intelligent person who is just trying to keep you from doing something too stupid."

"That's easy for you to say, you don't have to see them every day," Aomine refuted.

"Aomine-kun you said it yourself, as long as you're careful there is nothing to worry about." Kuroko pointed out. "You should know what they are expecting of you by now, it shouldn't be too difficult to go along with them."

"Yeah, yeah," He brushed off, "That's why I'm going home before I get tracked down."

Kagami didn't bother to stop himself, "Good boy."

"Don't you even start," Aomine warned.

"Aren't you supposed to be getting home?" Kagami responded congenially, enjoying working up his rival, this was kind of fun hanging out with Kuroko's old teammates.

"Just you wait, next one-on-one I'll wipe the floor with you," Aomine warned before stalking off after Kise to retrieve his own clothes from the laundry.

There was some jostling and roughhousing as the two large aces left Kagami's apartment, heading for the station together. For two people who used each other as teddy bears the night before they were certainly more than happy to take jabs at each other now.

"Your friends are weird Tsuya," Kagami commented, forgetting for the moment that not all of them had left.

"What was that Taiga?" Akashi challenged.

This time Kagami was not intimidated, "Can you honestly say you are not a little unusual? I never said anything about that being a bad thing." He reminded.

Nothing but silence again, and Kagami smiled. "It's okay to be different, that's actually kind of normal if you haven't noticed. You have friends anyway so it can't be too bad."

Akashi glanced at Kuroko, "So that's why you picked him. He can be surprisingly insightful at times."

"One of the reasons, yes," Kuroko confirmed.

"I'm still in the room you know," Kagami broke in.

"And?" Akashi responded, "You made a comment about me while I was right here."

"Technically I made a general comment," Kagami defended himself, "And like I said it was a compliment."

"Mine was a compliment as well," Akashi pointed out.

"Alright you win," Kagami submitted, not wanting to ruin what had turned out to be a very nice visit by picked a fight, "So what were your plans for the day?"

Akashi thought about it for a moment, "I don't have anything specific in mind, I had not planned on staying overnight so I did not have the foresight to plan something."

"Tsuya and I have afternoon practice today, Hyuuga or coach would have called if that had changed, would you like to come watch?" Kagami decided to offer on a whim, all the other Miracles had turned up already, might as well get the full set.

"I could think of worse ways to spend an afternoon," Akashi agreed.

"We can go by my house on the way to the school and you can borrow some of my practice clothes Akashi-kun," Kuroko added on. "I don't think you want to risk your nice clothes by playing in them again, last night was bad enough."

"You have a point, alright Tetsuya let's do that." The former Teiko captain allowed.

"We have a decision to make Taiga-kun," Kuroko informed, "Should we tell the team about us?"

Yep, Kagami really liked it when Kuroko used his first name, and was now trying to conceal the strain on his voice as he replied. "Even if we don't say anything right away, I think they are going to figure it out pretty quick; especially if you keep calling me that." He admitted.

"Oh, why?" Kuroko asked with a raised eyebrow, perfectly aware of the issue, but he did like to tease his Light when he had the chance.

Kagami's eyes narrowed, remembering what Kise and Aomine had revealed about their Shadow, "I think you already know." He accused.

"I may have an inkling yes," Kuroko fessed up with a little smile. "Who says I want to stop though?"

"Depends, do you really want me to lose it and possibly have a rather spectacular public display of affection?" Kagami warned, a smile on his own lips.

"Hmm, I think that may actually be kind of fun Taiga-kun," Oh yes, very fun indeed. "As long as it's around the team I don't see it being too big of a problem."

"You've actually thought about this haven't you?" Kagami realized. He was a little surprised at the exhibitionist tendency Kuroko was admitting to, but that's not to say he didn't like it.

"I think about a lot of things," Kuroko teased, "I can't help it that people assume that just because I'm quiet I don't have those kinds of thoughts."

"Take it from me, he does," Akashi interrupted.

Kagami looked between the two of them with suspicious eyes, "Just how close were you two?"

"Does it matter?" Akashi challenged. "There was closeness between all of us at Teiko, but some of us enjoyed a stronger bond than others."

Kuroko elaborated, teasing Kagami was one thing, letting him worry about this was another. "There were things that passed between Akashi-kun and I at Teiko, but that was a long time ago and we respect each other too much to interfere with anything new that develops. That was kind of an unspoken agreement between all of us actually. It was fine for things to happen when we were single, but if one of us got into a more serious relationship all that stopped."

"And even among ourselves we were honest with each other when things happened, we tried not to hide anything important." Akashi added. "We were young but we still attempted to take care of each other when it came to love and relationships."

"Ah, I kind of want to ask something, but it's really personal, it's okay if you don't want to answer," Kagami confessed.

"Just ask, the worst we will do is say no," Kuroko encouraged.

"Just how far did things go between you guys? You know I've never gone beyond kissing, and please believe me I don't mind if you have gone farther, I just want to know more about you." Kagami dived in.

"I'm not a virgin," Kuroko admitted, like Akashi had said they didn't hide that kind of thing from each other. "It's up to you if you want to know who I've been with."

To his credit, Kagami actually took a moment to think about it, "Yes, I want to know. Again, I'm not going to get mad, but it is something I'd like to know if you are willing to tell me?"

"Aomine-kun and Akashi-kun," Kuroko responded after sharing a glance and approving nod with his old captain. "Never went beyond kissing with Kise-kun, and nothing at all with the other two."

Kagami nodded, "I figured as much. At least with them I can understand why you'd want to."

"It wasn't all about sex, it did happen, but that was a fairly small part of what we had," Kuroko was quick to assure. "It was more about just being close, especially during the last year when we started falling apart as a team. We at least had that to tie us together for as long as possible. At training camps we could be fighting like cats and dogs during the day but end up sleeping in one big pile at night."

"That sounds both fun and sad," Kagami observed. "I'm glad it wasn't all bad for you though."

"I might have left a lot sooner if it wasn't for those bonds," Kuroko admitted. "It took a lot to get me to want to leave, and even then I didn't leave with the intention of never coming back. I wanted to find a way for us to heal and have something new and better."

"This is probably selfish, but I'm happy you came to Seirin." Kagami confessed unsurprisingly, "You did manage to achieve what you wanted, but at the same time we got to know you. That wouldn't have happened if you went to the same school as one of the others."

"I know, I'm happy with my choices," Kuroko assured. "They were the right ones to make, both for myself and the others."

"For what it's worth the rest of us are glad Tetsuya found a place he belongs," Akashi revealed. "It's why we are so approving of you two being together even with our history. We won't take his happiness away from him again."

Kuroko decided to change the topic a bit, "You know we never did decide if we should tell the team," He reminded.

"I think we should surprise them," Kagami suggested, "I want them to know, but I think it would be more fun to not say it directly. Just let it happen and see how long it takes for them to figure it out."

"I like that idea," Kuroko approved, "Care to make any guesses on who will figure it out first and when?"

"Sure," Kagami agreed. "If I had to bet on something, I would say coach will be the first to realize it. The other starters after that, and the rest will figure it out from them."

"Okay, that sounds about right, but if he was around I would say Kiyoshi-senpai would have a fair chance of getting it first," Kuroko added on to Kagami's guess. "How about when?"

"Less than a week," Kagami judged, "Depending on how much we choose to tease each other it will be sooner rather than later."

"I give them less than a day," Akashi commented drily. "It's kind of obvious."

"We have always been close though, it might take a little while for them to notice it's turned to something more," Kagami pointed out.

"Still, I doubt it will take too long," Akashi stuck by his first guess. "Your team is far from unobservant and like I said, it is fairly obvious that you two have advanced your bond.

"We will just have to wait and see," Kagami observed and with that the three teens started getting ready to leave.

It was a relatively easy thing to swing by Kuroko's house to gather practice clothes for him and Akashi, and soon after they arrived at the school. Despite being nearly an hour early the gym was not empty. The other soon to be second years were there to get in extra practice and judging by the amount of sweat they had been there for a while.

When they spotted the newly arrived trio all of them stopped dead in their tracks, not expecting to see the small but intimidating point guard standing placidly next to their classmates.

"I was invited along for your practice today, please continue your drills, we didn't mean to interrupt," Akashi spoke, soothing what were obviously frazzled nerves. The day before had calmed some of the overt panic, but it still was not easy to forget the monster they barely managed to take down in the Winter Cup.

When Kagami, Kuroko, and Akashi had gotten changed and re-entered the gym, Akashi couldn't stop the Captain in him from rearing its head. He watched the practicing players carefully, evaluating them out of a habit he hadn't bothered to break. He stayed back until they needed a water break before commenting, once again not able to stop himself. "Kouki, you have improved a lot." He began with the one he had actually played before. "I could see you trying to perform an ankle break, and that is a very hard to execute move. If Taiga is willing to be a test subject I can help you learn it." He offered.

"Hey, why me?" Kagami immediately objected.

"Easy, you are arguably the strongest player on the team. If the move even works on you it will raise his confidence level." Akashi explained.

"Fine, when you put it that way I'll do it," Kagami agreed, willing to help his teammate even if it meant he would likely be meeting the gym floor on a fairly regular basis.

"Thank you," Akashi had the grace to be appreciative anyway. "Now for you two, I know we have only met briefly, but I'm still confidant in saying you play well." He commented when he turned to the other two players. "You have the makings of a good center, very good coordination and sense of timing." He complimented Kawahara before addressing Fukuda, "And I believe you are training for shooting guard correct?" He asked getting a nod. "You have the strength for it, but try to improve your range. You are much better at shooting head on than from the side, work on that and I think you will find yourself much harder to predict and block."

All three of them were shocked silent at the comments, before scrambling to thank Akashi. "It's no problem, I enjoy helping hardworking players. It is very satisfying to see improvement from those people you have advised."

"Still, thank you." Furihata thanked again.

"Like I said, it's fine, now would you like to try the ankle break again?" Akashi offered, they still had some time before main practice would begin.

"Yes please, if you think I can do it," Furihata was willing to jump at any chance to improve. He had been used in two games and while he knew he had managed to help, he still wanted to do more so he could get on the court more often.

With that Akashi started directing Kagami to do basic drives towards the basket to give them something to aim for, and just like Kagami had suspected he did hit the floor often. Akashi was not holding back a bit, and he turned out to be a very good teacher as the others watched from the sidelines.

By the time the rest of the team showed up Furihata was managing to perform it correctly two times out of ten, which Akashi was quick to assure was very good progress for the amount of time they had worked on it.

Riko found herself both impressed and excited to see what the rest of the practice would turn out to be.


	13. What I've Done

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Redemption of the Red Emperor.

“How is he?” Kagami was asking as soon as he realized their coach and captain were in the gym.

“Kiyoshi’s going to be okay,” Hyuuga assured again. “He was still doing great this morning, no sign of infection or anything.” 

“As long as he uses crutches they will let him back into school in a few weeks,” Riko added on. “It will be awhile before he can get around without them though.”

“At least he won’t be in so much pain,” Izuki responded with relief. 

“Not for much longer, no,” Hyuuga agreed. “Physical therapy could take a lot out of him though.”

“But for now there isn’t anything more we can do for him,” Riko interrupted. “He wouldn’t want us to slack off because of him, so let’s get to practice.” She decided, the others nodding in agreement. 

“Tetsuya and Taiga invited me to join you for today, I hope that will not be a problem?” Akashi had stayed silent while the team caught up with each other, waiting to speak until it was appropriate. 

“No, that is fine,” Riko allowed. “How long were you working with Furihata-kun?” She asked curiously, looking at her tired but proud Kouhai. 

“About half an hour,” Akashi estimated. “He has talent in reading people and learning plays; reminds me a bit of Ryouta when he first started out.” 

Furihata audibly gulped, “There’s no way!” He protested. “Kise is way too good.”

“Why would I waste my time teaching someone who didn’t have potential?” Akashi asked with a raised eyebrow. “You may learn a bit slower than Ryouta but that does not make your skill any less commendable.” He switched his gaze to Riko before continuing. “You have prepared your team well, I would not have been able to teach him at all if he did not have such a solid base of skill to work from. The other two are also well on their way to reaching their potential. You have a nice broad range of abilities to train, and you work with them all equally well. I truly admire your efforts.” 

“Thank you,” She was shocked to the core, but pulled herself together. “I learned it all from my father, and most of the results come from these guys. If they weren’t willing to put in the work nothing I do would have any effect.” 

“Still, you have done what Teiko failed at,” Akashi pressed. “You pulled your team together and made them strong, our policies only served to rip us apart, and I myself am the guiltiest one. It was my responsibility to take care of my team, instead of following orders I should have fought against the decisions the coaches were making. I knew they were wrong, but was too caught up in my own battles to break out of it.” He willingly admitted. 

“Don’t do that Akashi-kun,” Kuroko tried to stop him. “While none of us really understood the pressure you were under, all of us did know there was something more going on than it looked. I know I wanted to help you, but didn’t know how when we couldn’t get you to tell us what was actually wrong.” 

“That does not excuse my behavior Tetsuya,” Akashi refuted. “Understandable missteps are still missteps. If I had better control over myself I could have spared all of you a lot of pain.”

“I’m not sure how much any of us can comment,” Riko started slowly, “But we have been hearing things over the last few weeks of meeting your teammates. It sounds to me like control is exactly what you experienced too much of. There is only so much pressure a person can stand before they break, and I think that is what happened to you. Tell me if I’m wrong?” She invited. 

“I truly do not know,” Akashi admitted. “If I did, maybe things wouldn’t have gotten so bad. I am only learning now that what I grew up with was not what others experienced. Control was something I was both under and expected to exert, but to say whether I had too much or too little is impossible for me to say.”

“Then let us help you understand,” Riko’s heart was going out to him, and she wasn’t completely sure why, but she had the strangest urge to give the visibly perplexed point guard a hug. He was more lost than Aomine and Kuroko put together, at these those two realized Teiko had broken them. “Kuroko and the others have told us what happened from their perspectives, how about you tell us what happened from your side?” She requested. 

“Not now,” Akashi refused, “This is time for your team to practice. I will answer that question afterwards if you are still interested.” 

Riko’s eyes narrowed, not really happy with the response, but she couldn’t argue with his logic. “All right, but I will be holding you to that.” 

“Thank you,” Akashi responded gratefully.

“We should get started then,” Riko took control. “I would like to see you work with Kuroko-kun, how would you like to split up the teams to show what the two of you can do?” He would know more about that then her at this point. 

Akashi looked to Kuroko, “What do you think Tetsuya, how far should we go?”

The rest of the team were surprised when Kuroko actually smiled, “Let’s have fun.” He responded simply. 

Akashi nodded, “Sounds good, then I think we should try it with the two of us plus Kouki, against Taiga, Junpei, and Shinji.” He advised, once again making Furihata gulp. 

“Are you sure?” He asked tentatively.

“Yes,” Akashi assured. “I think your skill fits well with the two of us. I want to see how well you do in a grouping you are unfamiliar with.” 

“You should listen to him Furihata-kun,” Riko added, “I like the idea too.” She backed up Akashi, understanding what he was trying to do, and honestly glad he was thinking about the members of Seirin who were not starters, but worked just as hard. 

“Alright,” Furihata finally let himself smile at being included now that he was assured it wasn’t a mistake. He happily came over to Akashi when the red-head gestured to him and Kuroko, drawing them into a huddle, while Hyuuga pulled Kagami and Kogenei together a short distance away. This was a match-up worth planning a bit of strategy beforehand. 

Akashi looked his teammates up measuringly, “Okay, for this I want to use you Kouki in the forward position. Tetsuya and I will coordinate to get the ball to you. As a point guard you should have a basic understanding of the other roles and what decisions have to be made. Try to imagine what Taiga would do in the situation and copy that assumption. Tetsuya and I can already do this, which is how we will get the ball to you when appropriate. You are good at thinking on your feet Kouki, use that, don’t hesitate.” He laid out.

Riko wanted to see what he could do, and Akashi wanted to accommodate that wish. In order to show his true strength he needed to play his own position. Akashi could and did occasionally play in other positions but he was a point guard at heart. Small forwards were by and large the most versatile players, but point guards were the best at understanding the others. The mark of a good point guard was to support the other positions and make them the best players possible. Kuroko was the best at it, always making his Lights shine the brightest, but he was a special case as he really didn’t have a set position.  
When Akashi played with Kuroko it was not their own skill that was so amazing, it was whoever they were combining to augment that stole the show. While Akashi had been so lost in the drive to win he had forgotten that simple but important fact. 

Furihata nodded seriously in understanding, realizing any protests would just be pushed to the side like all the others, and while he didn’t quite understand all the nuances he realized Akashi was experienced enough to know what he was doing. It was hard to remember sometimes that they were in fact the same age. 

Hyuuga’s team broke apart soon after and they were ready to start. 

Kagami immediately got control of the ball, driving towards the basket, but as Kuroko came up to steal the ball he quickly passed to Hyuuga. They had played together enough by now to predict each other, the more obvious the move the more likely it was to be some form of fake, the truly difficult part was to figure out exactly what way they were going to go. Just like when Kise played Aomine, it was not that they didn’t understand each other that made the difference, it was the fact they did.

Hyuuga sunk his shot, but Furihata was already under the basket, grabbing it and running towards the other net, passing to Akashi before Koganei could stop him. From Akashi it went to Kuroko and back to Furi in a heartbeat, circumventing Kagami’s attempt to steal it. He managed a lay-up and Koganei got the rebound, losing the ball to Kuroko who passed to Akashi. Hyuuga was in front of him, but found himself with his back hitting the floorboards as Akashi smoothly executed an ankle break and made a jump shot before Hyuuga could recover. 

Kuroko was able to smack the ball out of Koganei’s hands, Akashi coming up to send it to Furi. Even he was a bit surprised when he managed to land a three. Kagami immediately scored after that but Furi was still riding the high during his next shot, the ball wavering on the edge of the rim, before being tipped inside with a tap from Akashi. Hyuuga ended up with the ball making his own three pointer, before Kuroko and Akashi double teamed them to redirect the ball over to Furi, who sent it back to Kuroko in time for him to make a phantom shot before the other three could stop him. 

Kagami got the rebound, once again driving towards the net; this time dodging Kuroko’s attempt to steal, continuing to run. He realized too late that Kuroko’s move was cover for Furihata to get in front of him, and suddenly all he saw was the gym lights. Furi was putting Akashi’s training to good use. That earned him a fist-bump from Kuroko, and he literally paused right there in the middle of the game staring at his hand, before lifting his head and throwing his fist into the air, though he was soon chasing after the ball again. 

No one was more surprised than Furihata when the time came for Riko to blow her whistle arrived, his last shot bringing his side into the lead. 

“I knew you could do it,” Akashi commented, coming up to stand beside him, “Have more confidence in yourself. You play well.” 

“Thank you, but wasn’t most of that you and Kuroko?” Furihata asked shyly, the Shadow appearing next to them at hearing his name. 

“Not all of it,” Akashi insisted. “Just like I couldn’t teach you if you didn’t already have the skills you needed, we could only augment what was already there.” 

What they were saying was just confirmed when Kagami came up and smacked his shoulder, “Great job, keep it up!” He encouraged with a broad grin. 

With that the group of six that had been playing against each other rejoined the rest of the team. “Did you get what you wanted?” Akashi asked Riko respectfully. 

“That was amazing!” She responded truthfully. “You play so well with Kuroko-kun I was a little surprised to tell the truth, but I can tell you trained together a lot in the past.”

“We tried,” Akashi explained humbly, “Tetsuya and I would use each other to practice our accuracy and observational skills. Daiki was the fastest out of us all, but his movements did not translate well towards others so we had to improvise a bit and learn from other sources if we wanted to predict our opponents.”

“Sounds right,” Riko analyzed. “Aomine would be good practice for speed, but not prediction, that’s his talent. I imagine Kise would have similar issues considering how quickly his style evolved.”

“True,” Kuroko agreed. “The most predictable one was Midorima-kun, Murasakibara-kun was only predictable when he was calm; if he got angry no one knew what he might do.”

“Even I had trouble with Atsushi,” Akashi admitted. “He really does have the potential to be the best out of the Teiko starters.” 

“I noticed,” Riko assured, “I’m interested in working with him, all of you to be honest.”

“Didn’t expect anything different,” Akashi confessed with a small smile. That simple gesture was even more surprising than Kuroko’s. “What did you have in mind?” 

Riko had been waiting for that question since the short conversation that passed between them at the hospital the night before. “There was a time last summer where Shutoku and us ended up at the same place for our training camp, and it worked really well to play off each other. How would you feel about a combined trip, with members of all the teams that want to come?” 

Akashi thought about that for a little bit, “It’s not a bad idea, especially for those of us in the showcase; it would be good to get more practice in before the first game. It would be a little expensive though.” His being cut off had made him much more aware of the limitations money could place on activities. 

“If all the participating teams threw in on it, we should be able to come up with something,” Riko suggested.

Kuroko added onto his coach’s words, “Especially if we have Momoi-kun helping us. She is very good at finding the best deals; did it all the time for us at Teiko.” Excitement was blatantly obvious on the Shadow, his old and new life meshing together was one of his desperate wishes and here they were talking about making that happen. 

“Since you are so happy about this, do you want to handle inviting the others Kuroko?” Hyuuga inquired, realizing in the back of his mind what this meant to his kouhai. 

“Yes,” Kuroko responded with one of his blinding smiles that lit up the room. 

Kagami grumbled, “Well now we know they’ll want to come.”

“Oh, why is that?” Akashi asked serenely, a tone that put the power forward on edge.

“If Kuroko is the one asking I know you guys will go along with him,” Kagami decided to just dive in head first, seemed like the best option. “I know even if the rest of the team didn’t come, all the Miracles would blow everything off just to get there.” 

With a sigh Akashi admitted, “Probably.” He agreed. “It IS a good idea though, I don’t see any captain worth their jersey turning down the opportunity to learn from so many others. I know I’m going to be talking to my starters as soon as I get back to Rakuzan.” 

“He’s right,” Hyuuga backed Akashi up. “If this was say Kasamatsu asking I would be all for it too.” 

“What about the other coaches?” Koganei asked, realizing if it was a training camp then they might just want more than Riko, no matter how good she was six teams was too much to handle at once.

“They are of course welcome to come,” Riko immediately assured. “Though if most of their teams stay behind I can understand if some would rather stay back and allow their captain and the other coaches to take care of their players. We have a small team so it’s not such a big deal for us, but the others are too large I’d doubt they would bring all of them to a single camp like this. It’s the way I would do it.” 

“I will take charge of my team, like I said, I intend to speak with our starters. I would rather give the others a chance to work directly with coach without us taking over the spotlight,” Akashi informed. 

“I can imagine the others doing the same,” Riko predicted, “Some of them anyway.”

“If I had to guess; I’d say Coach Araki from Yosen, and Coach Harasawa from Touou would join in. They are dealing with Daiki and Atsushi; I don’t see them leaving those two to their own devices at a training camp with so many others.” Akashi analyzed. 

“Wouldn’t be surprised if the Shutoku coach came along,” Riko added. “When we met over the summer he seemed interested in playing with us again.” 

“Okay, so when would be a good time?” Akashi asked practically.

“If you are wanting to use this chance to train with the showcase players then it obviously needs to be before the first game; so to me it would make more sense for you to set the time.” Riko responded.

“I feel it is safe to say it here since I did not want to disturb Shintaro with the news yesterday, but the date is set for the promotional photo shoot. It will be held in three weeks on a Friday. It would mean missing class on Saturday but we can use that timing to get together for the weekend.” Akashi proposed after thinking about it for a few minutes. 

“With it being for club activities we can probably get excuses for class, as far as I know no one here has missed any; don’t know about the other teams though,” Riko informed. 

“I don’t see too many problems with that; club activities are after school so if they make it to practice they should make it to class, well except for Daiki,” Akashi admitted. “He probably won’t bother trying to get an excuse and just skip if he is anything like the old days.” 

“That part hasn’t changed Akashi-kun,” Kuroko informed; ratting out his former Light. 

Hyuuga had been thinking, “Instead of staying until Sunday, lets extend it to Monday, we can use the extra night to study together and get caught up. There are a couple people from different years; if we all work together surely we can get it figured out.”

Both Akashi and Riko had to think about it, but it was the Seirin coach who spoke first, “I think you have a good idea there.”

“Yes,” Akashi agreed calmly, “Especially if any of the older coaches are willing to help if we get stuck anywhere.”

Kuroko couldn’t help it, he had to ask, “What will your father say about you deliberately skipping class?”

Even he looked a little stunned when there was a mischievous smirk crossing Akashi’s face; so much like the old days it made the Shadow’s heart clench. “What my father doesn’t know can’t hurt me.” 

“How on Earth would he not know you were away from home for two nights?” Kagami asked with raised eyebrows. 

“My father is very busy with business this time of the year, the only time we really talk is over supper and if I come up with a good enough excuse I can get away with missing a few days.” Akashi had been able to rebel in some very small ways in the past; it was only recently that he started getting the urge to do so again rather than just following the life path his father wanted him to take.

Mitobe looked at him with sad eyes and Koganei responded to his nonverbal, “I know right? That does sound very lonely.” The cat-like boy looked to Akashi. “Mitobe comes from a very big family, eating dinner with only one other person and spending the rest of the time alone makes him a little sad.”

Akashi looked at the honest but silent third year, and spoke slowly, “Can I ask what may be a rude question?”

“Let me guess, you want to know why he doesn’t talk?” Koganei asked, getting a nod from Akashi and glancing at Mitobe to check for the permissive wave before explaining. “First, and I’m only telling you this because he doesn’t mind you knowing; Mitobe can speak, what he can’t do is hear.” Koganei admitted. “He doesn’t like the looks he gets when he tries to talk, he knows his voice sounds little strange since he can’t hear himself, so he doesn’t try in public.”

Akashi’s eyes blew wide, but he kept his cool beyond that and turned to face Mitobe completely, “You read lips don’t you?” He asked, getting a relieved nod. “I am very impressed by your skill. Learning to play basketball by sight alone must have been very difficult, you play so well no one can tell.” He complimented. 

“We work as a team, he’s the eyes and I’m the ears.” Koganei claimed proudly. “I have been friends with him since kindergarten and we have gotten used to each other; that’s how I know what he wants to say even when he doesn’t use actual sign language so he doesn’t give himself away during games. He does use it at home though.” He added as an afterthought. 

“It’s very rare that Mitobe is in a game that Koga isn’t,” Riko pointed out. “Mitobe can play with the rest of us if he has to, but he’s better with Koga.”

“Mitobe is the reason I play basketball,” Koganei admitted. “He started out with it first, getting interested in middle school, but by high school he wanted to be able to help more so we made our style together.”

Akashi looked contemplative before glancing at Kuroko, “That sounds familiar, like the difference between you playing with Daiki versus Ryouta.”

“Very similar,” Kuroko agreed, happy that their hardworking Senpai was getting some well-deserved praise. Akashi had been the first outsider to ask why he didn’t talk, the others with all their eccentricities probably barely registered a silent player as being odd at all. 

Since there was a lull in conversation, Hyuuga took advantage of it, “Maybe we should get some more practice in?” Phrased like a question, but definitely far more than a suggestion. 

“Since you would like to speak with me,” Akashi said, gesturing to Riko, “I believe it would be best if I sit out for a little while and answer her questions.”

Now that made Hyuuga reluctant, since he wanted to know the answers too, but Riko saved him the decision. “Is it alright if I tell the rest of the team about it later?” She decided to ask.

Akashi paused, before, “I will tell you if I would prefer it stay between us, otherwise I don’t have a problem.” He eventually responded. 

Excited about finally getting to grill the former Teiko captain without worrying about Kiyoshi, Riko soon chased her boys out onto the court letting Hyuuga take over practice for a while. She waited until they were thoroughly occupied before speaking, “So what really did happen at Teiko? I know something bad happened in the last year, but not much else.” 

“In short, we were pushed too far too fast, a mindset Ryouta still has trouble with.” Akashi was calm and honest, again, mistakes were made but at the time he believe they were the right decisions so he would own up to them. “The coach we had in the beginning was very understanding and knew how to nurture talent without harming his students. We flourished in his care, but that ended up being a bad thing. Daiki was the first to fall, he was too good, and while the old coach knew what he needed to hear; the new one didn’t. After speaking with him recently –I decided to go back and find him after the Winter Cup- I know he was in far too pressure from the head faculty. He was too new and didn’t have the sway to change their opinion, he made some bad calls. First with Daiki, and later with the rest of us.” He stopped for a sip of water before adding on, “That I doubt is anything new to you, and of course is find to speak about, but the next part is personal and I ask your discretion. There is a true reason I do in fact blame myself for a lot of the harm my team fell prey to.”

Well Akashi wasn’t wrong, Kuroko had told them that much before the finals. “You only need to tell me what you’re comfortable with. I admit I am very curious but if it’s too hard you can stop anytime.” Riko assured before the young red-head continued. 

“No, I believe you need to know it all.” Akashi broke in, “You have the most direct and immediate contact with some of my most broken players. Tetsuya, I hurt him so badly, and with all the decisions made it severed his connection to Daiki. Tetsuya was Daiki’s rock, and Daiki was Tetsuya’s wings, they needed each other and I took that away by not coming to their defense.” 

“Then tell me?” Riko invited encouragingly.

“I’ll start off with a warning, though I believe you already know this could be a problem. Your starters are extremely strong, even without the Uncrowned King, you are a vicious opponent. I am going to suggest you do not use all of them in any one game unless you have to. I understand in the Inter-High and Winter Cup you want your strongest line-up, but one of the things that broke the Teiko team was the forced all of us ‘Miracles’ to play in every game from the beginning. It took all the fun out of it for both us and them, the points game most of us began to play resulted from that though I am curious if Kuroko told you about that one.” 

“He did,” Riko informed quietly. “That was awful, I don’t care how you look at it, what you did was very, very, wrong.”

“I know that now, which is why I’m warning you. I don’t want that to happen here, and you have grown your team so well it is a true possibility. That was the real reason I picked Kouki to join Tetsuya and me, I knew he could play and wanted to point out you had strong players sitting the bench that need a chance to shine. Are they as good as your main team? Not yet, but unless they are tried out in true games they might never get a true chance to catch up.” Akashi pressed. “There was another saying about the Teiko team, not as powerful as the one about the Generation of Miracles, but it was a well-known fact that our team possessed the strongest bench-warmer in the league. The captain that passed the title to me had not graduated yet, but family problems made him pass the title sooner than usual. In the beginning after I became captain he played with us interchangeably, but when the rule about all the Miracles having to play in every game came around he barely ever got the chance to be on the court unless one of us got hurt. If you want some kind of measure I personally believe he could have beaten the Uncrowned Kings without much trouble; he was that good.”

“I understand how that could definitely hurt a team, but what I don’t see is why any of that was your fault in particular. Sounds like a lot of decisions were made that was out of your power.” Riko observed with softened eyes, the faint urge to hug him had grown, but since she didn’t want to die she was holding herself back. 

“The big decisions were not mine,” Akashi agreed, “But there were ways I could have combated them, only I didn’t. My pride got in the way of my responsibility. I was under so much pressure to win that even though I was facing my own teammate the thought of losing tore me apart. I even gave in to Atsushi’s challenge to get him to come to practice, that’s what started the whole thing, but despite winning the game I let him just walk away. I also left Daiki alone in his grief. Did I make the initial choices? No, but that does not mean I can completely wipe away responsibility.” 

Riko’s eyes narrowed in suspicion, “That drive to win; that was not all Teiko was it?”

“…No,” So far that was the only reluctant answer. “That definitely didn’t help, but all the school’s policies did was reinforce the lessons I was receiving from my father. I was not an abused child, I was never struck, or starved or even verbally harassed, but I was removed from any real interaction until I managed to persuade my father to send me to a public school. All I knew before that was his lesson that the Akashi family would never be in second place. When I began playing basketball it was only allowed on the grounds that I never, ever, lost. When I played Atsushi my loyalty to my team lost out to the loyalty to my family; despite   
the fact of all the people I have ever known my team has shown me the most kindness, even when I did not deserve it.” 

Akashi was wounded, and instead of trying to back him into a corner, Riko changed course. “You know your players the best, I can tell you want to help them, what do you think would work best on them?”

“It is not skills they need,” Akashi observed. “They are as strong as it is safe to be, but they are all missing at least one key thing that would help them use that strength. Ryouta needs confidence, the more he believes in himself the better he plays. Daiki needs patience, unfortunately he is so skilled people will always react to him differently, but he needs to learn to keep a grip on his anger until it is safe to vent. Atsushi needs motivation, you saw it during the Winter Cup; he needs a true reason to play to his fullest. Shintaro probably came through Teiko the best of all of us if you can believe that –he stayed the truest to himself- and he is already learning what he needs; trust in his teammates. Tetsuya needs reassurance; he fears abandonment which shouldn’t be a surprise with what we did to him. I will say this only once, and I hope you understand why I don’t want it repeated, but I am grateful for Taiga. He was the spark my players needed to find themselves again, motivate them into discovering the key to their talents; especially for Tetsuya and Daiki. There are others in the shadows that have added to their progress; Tatsuya, Kazunari, Satsuki, and Yukio. Without them I am afraid my teammates and friends would still be lost.” It was the first time Riko had ever heard Akashi speak about the Miracles as being his friends, and it gave her hope. 

“No one would leave someone hurt that badly alone with the pain,” Riko commented, “There will always be someone who comes along, but I’m curious, what about you? No one is perfect, what do you need?”

“Freedom,” Akashi admitted quietly, “I need the opportunity to be myself, not what my father or directors want me to be.”

“You will have as much freedom as the other Captains, no more, but no less.” Riko responded. “You are used to having so much pressure it will be odd for you to step back, I know that, but I think you will find it worth the risk. Trust in others for once.”

It took several minutes for Akashi to respond. “I think you might be right.”


	14. Confessions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I wonder who is going to win the bet?

Hyuuga was a good captain, and after their win at the Winter Cup he could even get himself to believe that more often than not. In his opinion what made a strong leader was the captain's ability to understand their team and players, and using that to motivate them into following the coach's orders.

He had worked very hard on learning how to read and understand people, and while Riko was preoccupied by her conversation with Akashi, he was free to observe their prodigious duo.

Between all the different conversations and situations Kagami and Kuroko had been caught in over the past few weeks it actually took a little while before Hyuuga noticed anything at all unusual. It wasn't how they were acting or playing, the closeness there was nothing new even in the beginning they had a tendency to be focused on each other; no, this difference he was seeing now was in how they were talking.

Kagami already did call a few people by their first names, specifically his brother and teacher, people from America he had known since he was young and therefore was far more comfortable using the more relaxed mode of address. If it was just him switching how he spoke, Hyuuga may have been able to overlook it. Tsuya was a little, well, cute in his mind, but it wasn't all that different from Aomine calling Kuroko Tetsu. It could have just been another way for the two Aces to compete for the Shadow's attention.

But it wasn't solely Kagami. In all Hyuuga's time around Kuroko he had never heard his extremely polite Kouhai use someone's first name. If he was really angry, like in the case of Hanamiya, he might drop the honorific but never had he used a first name.

The moment Hyuuga heard the familiar voice call out the mostly foreign name he knew all his and the other upper years observation and suspicion had been dead on. It was such a simple thing too, Kagami had handed Kuroko his bottle of sport's drink and the Shadow had thanked him like always, only what he actually said was; "Thank you Taiga-kun."

The taller boy's response was to shrug and say, "No problem Tsuya."

Hyuuga couldn't keep quiet anymore, "Alright, what's going on?" He demanded to know, only getting looks of surprise and a bit of guilt in response if he wasn't completely off the mark.

"What makes you think something's different?" Kagami was a prodigy in many ways, lying was not one of them and even he cringed a bit at the far-too-obvious dodge.

"Well, that for one," Hyuuga responded drily, "And you just called each other by first names." He pointed out.

"So? Friends do that all the time," Kuroko spoke up calmly, unlike his Light he could spin a tale with the best of them if he wanted to. In truth he was a tad curious to see how far his Captain could be pushed before he figured it out.

Hyuuga crossed his arms in front of his chest and glared, "Yeah, sure, except I have never heard you do it before. Not even with the other Miracles. So, I'll ask again, what's going on?"

"Does it matter?" Kagami was truly curious about that one. The way their Captain was acting made him think he knew and was just confirming, but at the same time the irritation evident in Hyuuga's voice was enough to make him wary.

"Of course it does. You two are part of this team, and therefore I for one would like to know what's happening. I don't like surprises." Hyuuga defended himself, figuring out his ace was getting defensive, but too curious to just let it drop.

It was Kuroko who responded to him first, "I think you already know Senpai or you wouldn't be so insistent." From there he looked at Kagami, "Looks like we were both wrong Taiga-kun." They had both thought Riko would be the first to figure it out, they had really only wagered on the timing, he should have known better than to doubt Akashi on that one.

"I was the one who said they would figure it out faster if you kept calling me that," Kagami reminded, red tinging his ears.

Kuroko quirked an eyebrow, "Uh huh, yeah you did, but I don't think this is what you meant when you said it."

The blush grew darker, "I was still right," He spoke a bit petulantly without looking Kuroko in the eye knowing he would be trapped if he did. The Shadow had him wrapped around his little figure, and Kagami firmly believed the little devil knew it.

Hyuuga was growing more impatient by the second, "So are you two going to answer my question or not?"

That got the two of them moving. Kagami, after a quick look to confirm it was alright, swung his arm around Kuroko's back and pulled him close with a sheepish smile on his face, "We kinda got together last night." He admitted, with his Shadow nodding along wearing his own smile on his face, small, but there.

"If I said I was surprised, I'd be lying," Hyuuga informed, then added. "As long as it doesn't interfere with how you play I won't say anything against it." He figured he might as well add on a little reassurance. It couldn't have been easy for them to confess, no matter how close they were as a team. The sports world was a bit unpredictable when it came to different kinds of love, sometimes even more so then in general society. They were a weird little niche.

"Thanks," Kagami said with all honesty, right before Kuroko replied as well.

"It means a lot to hear you say that," The phantom Miracle showed his appreciation without reservations.

Hyuuga glared again, "What did you think was going to happen? We were going to hate you?"

"...Well it's not completely impossible," Kagami murmured, ears turning red again.

That got him whopped upside the head, which he wasn't expecting considering Hyuuga hadn't moved. Turning a bit he saw Izuki behind him, "Why would we worry about it as long as it doesn't mess with our games? Relax, we know you two, it's not like this changes anything. Just don't let us find you in the locker room together, got it?"

None of the group saw Riko and Akashi come back over to them, so the pair managed to overhear Izuki's comment, prompting the coach to ask, "Alright, what has all of you so distracted?"

"Ask them," Hyuuga responded, gesturing sharply at the still connected pair of basketball geniuses.

"Well, are you going to tell me?" She turned her full attention to the duo, though she was pretty sure she knew the answer.

Kagami and Kuroko managed to make another confession, only for the Shadow to see the satisfied smirk on the former Teiko Captain's face. "Yes Akashi-kun, you were right." He conceded while Riko was still coming to terms with the admittance.

She ended up just shaking her head and commented calmly, "Well it took you long enough."

Kuroko and Kagami shared an incredulous look before refocusing on their coach, "Huh?" Kagami asked oh so eloquently.

"Did you really think you were fooling anyone?" She responded with hands on her hips, "Please, we all knew something was going on with the two of you. Even Kuroko-kun has been acting differently."

That made the shadow blush enough, for once matching his Light in tone, "I didn't think it was that obvious." He confessed quietly.

She smiled at him, internally squealing at the cuteness, she just couldn't help it with the bashful and sheepish expressions on her Kouhai; both of them. "I don't think you have too much to worry about. Other people don't know the both of you like we do. It's only natural we'd realize these things first."

Akashi cleared his throat to get their attention, "Not quite first." He interjected. "I was the one who told them they would be unable to hide anything from their teammates. Your observational skills did not disappoint."

Riko couldn't help herself from calling him out, "While I don't doubt you would guess right in that case, I still think there is no way you could have known if we did or didn't suspect these two of going out."

"You can't prove anything, can you?" It honestly took a moment to figure out the normally intimidating red-head was actually teasing Riko. He knew she was right but was not about to admit it out loud.

Her eyes narrowed in irritation, "Just keep telling yourself that, sooner or later one of us will catch you out on something. You will be wrong and we will have proof." She declared.

"I look forward to the attempt," Akashi responded placidly, a little smile on his face.

A smile mirrored on the face of Kuroko as he laced his fingers together with the bigger hand of Kagami, the taller teen looking down with a thoroughly excstatic expression that proved well and good why Kuroko chose him as his Light for this go round. Kagami's grin lit up the room, and ignited a fire in Kuroko's heart that he never wanted to feel go out.

That spark just burned hotter as their lips met in a short chase kiss, using the bickering of Riko and Akashi to cover up the move a bit, pulling apart to smile at each other again and turn back to watch the verbal sparring match. Words weren't needed between them right now, just the comfort and support of having the other's hand entwined with their own was enough for them.

They were accepted, something the both of them had their doubts over, but the confessions were over and now they could focus on the future. The showcase was approaching, and with it, a whole new set of challenges would come over them.


	15. Our Truth

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Midorima has a breakdown and the others are faced with the reality that they're all a little broken.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm playing a little catch-up here, I kept forgetting to post chapters to this account from my fanfiction one. I apologize. You will get three shiny new chapters for this story in the next few minutes. It's not an email error.

If Kagami and Kuroko thought there was going to be any great change in the team dynamic now that they were together; then they had underestimated Seirin big time. Of course they did their part to ease the way by not being too lovey-dovey in public. Because come on, that was just rubbing it in that the only other one on the team in a relationship was Tsuchida.

No, life at Seirin remained about the same during the three weeks between Akashi's visit and the training camp. Practicing, roughhousing, and learning; each growing in their own skills under the careful guidance of Riko, who couldn't have been prouder of her boys. Although she did her best to overlook the occasional extra person cluttering up her gym. Now that the Miracles had all come on invitation at least once, they had no problem waltzing in whenever they felt like it; particularly Aomine who didn't care as much about his own practices and would rather come challenge Kagami. Momoi admitted to Kuroko that Touou's coach felt that at least if he was with them he was doing something productive other than sleeping on a rooftop or riling up Wakamatsu when he did decide to wander into practice. He even drug Sakurai with him sometimes for Hyuuga to get his claws into.

The little flashes of good intentions under the rough exterior was what kept Riko and the other older players from completely kicking the usually abrasive player out of their practices. Especially once it was discovered what he did to Haizaki after his match with Kise, something that Kuroko may or may not have let slip knowing it would sway his Senpais into trusting Aomine a little more.

Kagami actually confronted his rival about that, "You really do care about him, don't you?" He accused.

"The heck you talking about?" Aomine's confusion was genuine at least, he had no idea what sparked Kagami's question.

"Tsuya told us something interesting, about you punching out that Haizaki bastard -not that the rest of us didn't want to- but you actually did it. That was for Kise wasn't it? You were trying to protect him." Kagami explained himself a little better; realizing his initial approach was too abrupt for anyone to follow and Aomine wasn't just being stubborn on principle.

Aomine turned away with what sounded an awful lot like a growl, but he did eventually answer, "Fine, alright, yes! I did it for him, and Tetsu. Haizaki is no friggin joke; he can mess you up as I'm sure you noticed. Kise told you himself that he, and Tetsu for that matter, can take care of themselves when they know what's coming but Haizaki plays dirty, always has. The only one who had any hope of controlling him was Nijimura and he's long gone. I did what I had to, if any of the rest of you did that and got caught you'd have been kicked out of the tournament; Touou had already been eliminated."

That just made Kagami more curious, "If he is such a good fighter, and I believe you I saw him in action, then how in the hell could you knock him out?"

"I can play dirty too, when I need to," Aomine eventually grumbled out. "I don't like to if I can avoid it, but against him I definitely will. I took him by surprise because he didn't think I would actually throw a punch; call someone for backup maybe, but not get physical myself. I know the way people see me but I don't really like fighting, and Haizaki knows it. I much prefer taking out my temper on the court."

Kagami's eyes widened in genuine surprise, "Wait, you really don't?" With how impulsive and hot-blooded he was Kagami had expected Aomine to be a lot like him, and he enjoyed a good tussle under the right circumstances; preferably with both parties willing participants.

Now there was even more reluctance in Aomine's tone, when Kagami didn't think that was possible. "I know how and I will fight to protect someone, but I have never been in a fight without a damn good reason." There was no way on Earth Aomine was going to admit to Kagami that he didn't like fighting because he had a tendency to end up on the losing side. His speed and agility could only get him so far in a brawl. If he couldn't win with the first hit then he was screwed; because, as Kise had observed when he played Akashi, he really wasn't as strong as he looked when it came to brute strength. Punching Haizaki that night was a total gamble, but it was one he was willing to make for his Kise and his Tetsu.

Sensing a sore topic, and not wanting to get on Kuroko's bad side by antagonizing Aomine further, Kagami dropped it and the pair went back to their normal flurry of one-on-ones that nobody had the guts to step in on; not even Riko.

Kise came by less often thanks to his packed schedule, but he always left an impression when he did. His personality lit up the room like a firecracker even when he did manage to dodge his fans entering the campus; although that didn't happen very often. He quite honestly loved the attention, only disliking when it interfered with his safety or basketball. Perfectly reasonable objections even for an attention hound.

He always made sure to make up for the ruckus by focusing in practice though. He gave it his all, so much so that not even Hyuuga could fault him on his performance when he occasionally had trouble getting his own players -namely Izuki- to focus the whole way through.

The visits between the two opposing aces did serve one odd purpose though, it reinforced an observation the Seirin team had made when they first met the Miracles. Aomine was intimidating in his current form sure, but Kise was terrifying in his potential. Once Akashi had gotten a hold of him again and reined in his recklessness, controlling the stubborn drive Kise harbored to constantly improve, he'd rocketed forward in his own style. Kise was learning while his only true limits were in his mind, if he played to his body's strengths than even those self-imposed limits could be broken without as big a risk of hurting himself.

When he was called on it by Koganei he merely grinned and pointed to Kagami, "I'm going to beat Kagamicchi my way. I was doing it wrong before, but I have it figured out now!" Well that got the fiery red-head's attention; and when Kise noticed that he spoke directly to the impulsive Ace. "Just you wait! I'll take you and Aominecchi down, and you won't know what hit you!" Considering he was both cheerful and his eyes were practically glowing with the force of his challenge the Power Forward was more than willing to take him seriously.

Kagami grinned back, "Bring it on!" He returned the challenge just as strongly, ready to see what the unpredictable blond might have up his sleeve. It would be a wild ride that was for sure.

It made for a lot to think about, so when Midorima visited it was almost a relief to see he was still the same odd ball they had gotten used to. They weren't sure they could have handled thinking on a changed up shooting guard as well. It was nice to have a constant in their shifting world, even if his skill was still breathtaking to watch. They did notice the more often he came around the more comfortable he was with them. It made sense with all of Kuroko's warnings about his shyness, but now they really understood it. It was just nice to see him talking with the rest of them and not drawing away like they were going to bite him.

Midorima was different than the Forward playing aces, he truly did not need to improve on his skill all that much. There wasn't any further he could go in his range. The only thing he could do was increase the number of his shots and add in some variations in the form; but really the long range shots were so effective he didn't need to unless playing one of his former teammates or Kagami. Even his body was perfectly willing to do anything he asked of it. He proved this fact to Riko's special eyes when he was relaxed enough around them to take off his shirt for her inspection; and, just like Himuro before him, his stats were perfectly balanced. She couldn't help but gape considering how badly off the others had been.

"I'd like to become a doctor and go into Sport's medicine when I complete school," Midorima explained patiently when he saw her confusion. "I've been using myself to learn the best way to train and diet for an athlete of our caliber."

Riko shook herself out of her surprise, "Well you have done an amazing job, especially if you were working on this kind of conditioning alone."

"Not quite alone. I had a lot of help from Akashi in the beginning, I follow a plan very similar to his own, though it is tailored for our different body types." He responded delicately. Akashi was a much smaller person than he was, no matter how you looked at it, Midorima would always need more calories to be healthy even if they followed the exact same exercise and daily routine. That was just how it worked when he was nearly a foot taller than his former Captain.

Riko's eyes narrowed in eager anticipation, "If you would like I can get you in contact with my father during the training camp, we own a sport's gym and could help you learn more and be prepared to go into medicine?" She offered, barely managing to contain the excitement at having another person interested in the mechanics behind the sport they played, not just whether or not the ball made it in the hoop.

Midorima actually smiled at her, something that might have caused a few heart attacks if the exchange had occurred even a few weeks before then, "I would like that very much, thank you." His enthusiasm showed itself as he gripped tighter to the wooden carving of a ram in his hand, feeling the luck flowing into him from the figurine. Today really was a good day for him.

As for the others Murasakibara and Himuro could sneak down on weekends, but that was about the only times it was worth it. The trip was just too long otherwise. When they heard the stories about the others coming over to bug the Seirin team it made them wish they could drop in more freely, it sounded like so much fun, and they were excited about the joint camp idea just as much for the people as the basketball by the time the specified weekend grew closer.

Akashi had only joined them once since his first appearance at Seirin and that was to finalize plans for their weekend camp; as it was easier to handle some things in person. For that Momoi also came over and Aomine would not be left behind, which in turn tipped off Midorima and Takao that it was a good time to pay Seirin a little visit. That left a very distraught Kise complaining about a shoot he couldn't skip if he wanted to make the camp, which he obviously did, so he had to sit out the impromptu gathering.

Akashi was pleased to see the progress his old teammates had made in getting along with Seirin. He was even more surprised when he was pulled into the general melee of practice games with them when the work was done. The utter fear harbored for him had been slowly turned back to respect thanks to all his efforts, and that was enough to put a grateful smile on his lips as he dribbled the ball with Tetsuya and Taiga at his sides, facing off against Daiki, Shintaro, and Kazunari. They were giving the watching Seirin team the barest taste of the showcase to come and just why he had so much faith in its success.

Yes, this was definitely something he could get used to again. He had missed this. When the Miracles had first formed they had something similar, but lost it before they really got to recognize and cherish it for what it was. Now they had been given the chance again; not only with each other, but their new teams too. Even his most reluctant former players -Daiki and Atsushi- were growing into their roles as true teammates, though admittedly that could be hard to tell at times; Touou was a little lucky in that Satsuki could recognize the teasing for what it was even if the coach had trouble seeing it.

Daiki enjoyed pushing boundaries, it let him know where he stood and what he could get away with, and Wakamatsu was the kind of person more than willing to push back; so was Imayoshi before him. Daiki was right where he should be in Akashi's opinion, because he doubted there was any other team capable of harnessing him; either for his strengths or his oddities. That boy was like trying to keep a typhoon on a leash as far as he was concerned, but if you knew what you were doing, Daiki was the best player you could hope for simply because he loved the game more than anyone else on the court. Well, with the possible exception of Tetsuya, but he didn't talk about it as much.

As for Atsushi, having the steady presence of Tatsuya was helping immensely. Someone who wasn't afraid to push him into playing seriously. It did absolutely no good if the players were afraid of their own teammate; and for Atsushi it was very easy to be frightened of his skill. He was huge and talented, he moved quickly for his size, and had an overwhelming presence when irritated; that was a hard act to keep up with but somehow Tatsuya managed it and that allowed the tall Center a measure of freedom he wouldn't have had otherwise. In raw talent he was better than Daiki, but he didn't like using it unless you gave him a reason, yet Yosen was skilled in giving him those reasons and it made Akashi smile seeing his old friend having so much fun even as he grumbled.

Just seeing the changes, subtle as they were in the case of Shintaro, in the mannerisms of his former teammates made him curious to see the rest of them all the more. Watching Daiki and Taiga battle it out under the hoop was always exciting, but it was even more so now that they had done it what felt like thousands of times before; they were learning to predict each other better. They moved like trained fencers, fast, agile, and deadly as they stole, blocked, and shot towards the hoops with long commanding strides. Sometimes in stony silence, others with wide grins and wild laughter at the reckless exhilaration; it all depended on just how close the score was or whether that particular match was a tie-breaker.

In these mini-games where it was more than just them it was often the playful side off them that came out, so today they were smiling as they faced off, passing around themselves in a flurry of movement meant to trick the eye; trusting in the skill of the people around them. Something Aomine had thought he had lost a long time ago, but Kuroko and Kagami had snapped him back from the brink; now he could use Takao's special eyes to his advantage. Years spent on the same court with Midorima paid off as they used Takao to bounce passes between the two of them, just like the old days Aomine attacked the inside while Midorima took the outside and Takao cycled the ball between them.

It would have been a perfect attack had they been facing any other trio; unfortunately, Kuroko and Akashi were intimately familiar with the form considering it had once been them in Takao's place. Banking on Kagami's instinctual playing style, they worked their side based around fast steals and hard-to-predict passes to Kagami, who's attempts to vary his shooting range and forms were slowly paying off.

To no one's real surprise, the game ended with Kuroko down gasping on the floor, unable to take another step; the score tied dead even. There was just no way that set up was going to come out in any other way but a draw, and Riko made a mental note to change up the sides the next time she had these particular guests. She knew Kuroko would not be giving in until he was physically unable to move every single time, no matter who told him to back down, the temptation to keep going was just too strong.

All that game did was light a fire in everyone watching, now practically bursting with impatience at the weight, though by now they only had a few more days on anxious anticipation before Friday would roll around, bringing the day to a shiny dawn.

Kagami was woken up by a text from Kise, reminding him he should get there early, but at least he didn't need to worry about clothes because the studio decided to provide them once they discussed the details of the shoot with Akashi. They weren't going to leave anything to chance, not when the success of this showcase idea made the difference between him being recognized by his father as worthy or not. Everyone could tell this was very important to Akashi, and were willing to do what they could for him when they could see him trying so hard to mend the bridges he had broken in his tyrannical state.

He managed to pull himself out of bed in time to meet up with Kuroko as they planned the night before so they could travel together to the studio where the photoshoot would be happening. By the time they got there though the only ones left to come were Murasakibara and Himuro, though Aomine looked half-asleep, and Kasamatsu was not looking happy at dealing with an entirely too chipper Kise this early in the morning.

Just as the happy blonde was about to greet them though, he was glomped from behind by an equally excited ball of energy moving at the speed of light. The impact would have sent a lesser person sprawling on the ground, but either reflexes, practice, or both had Kise doggedly handling the strain though his knees did buckle as he whined, "Get off me!" He shoved against his captor, gently Kagami noticed, controlling his strength so he wouldn't hurt the person.

"Not until you introduce me! These are your friends right?" The speech was fast and just as hyper as Kise could be, though the higher pitch suggested the source was female as did the curtain of long blonde hair cascading over them.

A few more fruitless shakes had him crying mercy, "Fine! Let me go and I'll introduce you," He griped, and the girl set him free with a satisfied smile. "Guys, this is my older sister Kise Mitsuko; she is the one who got me scouted when I was little. Akashicchi asked if she could come in and give us a hand today since you're not used to all this stuff."

Ah, now it was starting to make sense, why the girl sure felt awfully familiar and not just because she was a blonde in a sea of brunettes. At least Kagami knew where Kise got the clinging thing from after meeting her.

He was brought out of his thoughts by Mitsuko talking. "It's great to finally meet all of you, basketball is all Ryouta talks about at home. I feel like I know most of you already so I can probably guess who you are if I wanted to." She really was bubbly, but it reminded Kagami of how Alex could be sometimes, so he found he didn't mind it too much.

Kise slung his arm around his sister's shoulder, "Go ahead, try; we have to kill a few minutes while we wait for the last team to get here anyway." He encouraged.

She looked over the group of boys, "Do any of you mind?" She thought to ask, and since anyone who may have objected another time was either too tired or bored to care, she was waved on, "Alright then, I will." With that she got down to business. "Well I remember the ones you played with in middle school, but they've all grown up quite a bit. You were all a bunch of shrimps last I saw." She was definitely teasing there since even as a second year in middle school Murasakibara towered over her, and really Midorima wasn't all that much shorter.

Her eyes found Aomine first, "You, I definitely remember you. Ryouta worships you, and yes I said that right as in he still does. He talks about you all the time. How much he wants to be better than you, play you again; you my good friend are practically a god in my brother's eyes."

By the end of her comment Kise was beet red and Aomine was preening at the praise, more than willing to bask in the glow. Oh he would be having words with the copycat later, many, many words.

Sakurai was just trying not to erupt into laughter at how puffed up Aomine was acting. He found the antics of the wild ace amusing even when others didn't, though his patience was tried on occasions. He was just an easy-going person that didn't like rocking the boat. It wasn't hard to take care of Aomine, it was a lot like having a very large house cat. Feed him and give him some attention until he gets bored and wanders off, Sakurai could deal with that; there was definitely far worse things and there was good in him too. Aomine genuinely tried to help him play better and beat the demons of his anxiety (though that might have to do with the ace dealing with the ghosts of depression himself), a lot of people gave up on him as a lost cause once they got sick of his apologizing, but Aomine just bopped him on the head and kept pulling him back around. A little rough around the edges sure, but that was Aomine in a nutshell and at least he was trying.

Of course his laughter died when Kise's sister switched her focus onto him. "I have watched you play, but I do not know your name. I know Aomine and Imayoshi from Touou, but that's it, I'm sorry." Mitsuko apologized profusely, leaving no doubt she was being honest about that.

"That's alright, I'm not a very flashy player or anything, it's okay." He stuttered out, managing to refrain from saying sorry at least; so hey, progress. "I'm Sakurai Ryou, the shooting guard."

"Oh no, I didn't mean it like that!" She was quick to correct, "You were really good! I'm just bad at remembering names of people I haven't actually met. I see so many people for my job it's difficult to keep them all straight. It doesn't help that when Ryouta talks about Touou he keeps going on and on about Aominecchi this, and Aominecchi that, honestly I was surprised to find there were other members of the team at all." Once again her brother was blushing a brilliant red.

Sakurai felt his own cheeks heating up and he ducked down in slight embarrassment, "Thank you." He finally came up with in response to her comments on his playing. That he could at least get a handle on, anything else was just too much right now.

To spare her brother from combusting and the newly introduced boy further stress Mitsuko moved on; this time red catching her eyes. "Oh yeah, you're Kagami, a Forward like Ol' Blue over there and the first one my brother lost to in the big bad world of high school." She laughed conspiratorially at Kagami and it was infectious, making him break out in a smile that had Kise pout.

"It wasn't just me," Kagami was quick to point out, "Seirin barely managed to beat Kaijo by the skin of our teeth." He settled his hand on Kuroko's shoulder proudly standing tall with a little nod of acknowledgment to Kasamatsu who was settled in a chair, dozing, next to Kise.

"I hate to say it, but I kind of needed that," Kise slowly admitted, "I'm just sorry it was at Kaijo's expense. Now though, don't expect any such luck. The showcase is going to be totally different!"

"I know, I know," Kagami assured, "Looking forward to seeing what you've got."

The grin on his face changed from happy to bloodthirsty, making Kagami's blood run cold, "You say that now, but I wouldn't be so sure once you actually get a taste of it."

There was an actual chill running up Kagami's spine, what the heck?

"Now Ryouta, is that any way to act around your friends?" Mitsuko chastised, snapping him back to his hyper self just as quickly as he left it.

Besides Kagami's movements had drawn attention to the fact his hand was still on Kuroko's shoulder, and he was always easier to see when in direct contact with one of his Lights. There were only three people in the room not surprised by the next move, the smallish blue haired boy was tackle-hugged by the slender long legged model. "Tetsuya-kun!" She cried out happily, cuddling him to her like a teddy bear, something he tolerated for a few moments longer than he might have for her brother, just because they hadn't had the opportunity for a while.

"Please let me go, I can't breathe," He protested calmly once he'd lasted as long as he could in her grip. Kagami found himself surprised that she didn't do more than pout before giving in to the request; and he'd been gearing up for a full-scale rescue mission if she did not unhand his boyfriend in the next five seconds.

Sensing the confusion, Kuroko explained before being asked; "Kise-san and I were friends while I was in Teiko. The team did spend time together outside of practice, and I met Kise-kun's family during one of the times he was dragging us around with him."

"Yeah, and you never thought to call me or anything? Not even once!" She accused. "I was worried about you kid. I know my brother can be an idiot," Here she skillfully ignored the indignant protest from behind her, "But we still care, you didn't have to run from all of us."

Kuroko actually bowed in apology, "I'm sorry."

She just shook her head, laughed, and ruffled his hair, "It's just too hard to stay mad at you sometimes."

Takao's easy laughter drew her eyes to him, and the orange jacket identified him as a Shutoku player, "You play with Midorima, I think your name is Takao right?"

"That's right, I'm Takao Kazunari." He agreed with a smile, "Point guard and comic relief at your service."

Honey eyes landed on the stiffly standing Shooting guard and softened, "If he is anything like I remember, that last thing will come in handy." She commented to Takao, before addressing Midorima directly. "How have you been Lucky?"

Midorima actually winced, "Are you still insisting on calling me that?"

She tilted her head in innocent curiosity, or at least supposedly innocent, "Why not? You are very lucky, and you love those horoscope things. It is hardly a degrading name, it's not like I'm calling you weirdo or oddball, just Lucky."

"But I do have a name," He protested weakly.

"I know," She assured gently, "But, believe it or not, I'm doing this because I like you Lucky. It's cute, like you. I believe others call it a term of endearment. Plus, from my perspective, it's a compliment. I know just how much effort you put into that. Getting up early every morning just so you have the time to find your item. Working odd jobs so you can afford them. Risking being mocked for carrying items that are girly or ridiculous. Yes, I call you Lucky, you've earned it."

"Wow Shin-chan, she really likes you!" Takao gushed, actually reining in his hyperness so his overly shy friend might just take him seriously. "I told you that some people saw what you did as cool and not stupid."

That actually made several people take notice, but Aomine was the one to speak up since he had the least filter on his mouth; though Kagami was a close second but Aomine knew Midorima better. "Wait, you think people see your lucky items as stupid?" Pure shock in his words.

Midorima didn't know how to answer, so he stayed silent, but Takao answered for him. "Yes, he does. At the very least he thinks it makes him really weird."

"But Midorimacchi, they are a part of you, they aren't stupid. We're so used to seeing them by now it would be weirder to see you without one." Kise was quick to say, noticing the tall shooter fidget with the plastic snake toy coiled around his fingers.

Midorima sighed, and realized there was no good reason to stay silent. "That's not really what Takao meant, but thanks Kise. He meant the habit in the first place, that I do it at all. What I look like to someone on the street or on the court who has no idea who I am and what the items are for."

Kagami spoke up, "But there are a lot of pro athletes that have rituals before games that make them feel better about playing; I've even heard of some rock stars like that. If they don't do things in a certain order or set up the right way, the performance doesn't go as well. Why would a good luck charm be stupid? Yeah sometimes you can be a little, well, extreme with it, but why the hell not? You can do things with a basketball I have never seen before and if having those lucky items with you helps calm you down so you can focus on making those shots; than in my opinion just do it and stop worrying about it. There is nothing stupid about peace of mind."

What could he say? The only reading material in his apartment were basketball magazines, and they were different ones thank you very much. They ran a really good series of articles on players' habits when getting ready for games. He enjoyed those ones a lot and read them multiple times.

"Taiga is right," Akashi spoke up firmly, joining his voice in for the first time since the Seirin duo arrived and Kise's sister was introduced. "I never attempted to break you of that habit because I never saw it as a bad one. It is harmless and brings you focus, had I realized you were worried about appearances I would have discussed it with you sooner. This is not a habit to be ashamed of in the slightest. If you do desire to be more discreet in it, that is your choice, but know you do not have to and none of us see this as some kind of fault in you."

"I really like it," Takao spoke up. "I mean that. It's fun and gives me something to think about. The team doesn't mind too much having them in the gym. The heavy ones are kind of a pain to pull in the cart, but that's the weight I'm complaining about not the item itself; you understand right?"

Midorima slowly nodded his head, it felt so heavy, and was he actually shaking?

"Shintaro, are you alright?" Akashi asked in concern.

"I don't know," He admitted, the shaking was getting worse and his hearing started to go fuzzy; he even felt a bit light headed.

Sakurai recognized it for what it was. "I think I know, you need to sit down right now and take a few deep breaths. Get yourself calmed down. We overwhelmed you. Is there anywhere we might get him a drink of water, please?" As he helped guide the taller, now very pale, player into a chair and handed him a rapidly procured bottle of water (stage lighting was hot and feinting was not uncommon during photo shoots) Sakurai did not seem to notice what the others did; there was no trace of hesitancy in his voice as his desire to take care of someone else took over. As a group the others backed off to give the pair room to work and breath.

Slowly, very slowly, Midorima came back around. Sakurai watched closely for awareness to come back into green eyes before asking him anything, "Feeling less like the world is spinning?" He inquired, before warning, "Don't nod or move your head, just speak if you can."

"Yes, less fuzzy." Midorima admitted, obeying the order to keep his head still. "How did you know what to do?"

Now that the danger was over, Sakurai gave a small smile, "Welcome to my world, that was an anxiety attack. It was triggered when they all started talking about you like that. Your friends really do care, but it took until now for you to realize just how much. You've always felt like an outsider, and this proved your assumption wrong. Let me guess, you would normally have breakfast but didn't eat this morning, and possibly not last night either?" He questioned.

"We ate dinner early last night, and I didn't have time before we had to come here," Midorima confirmed, before taking a few more sips from the bottle.

"Yeah, that will do it. It's harder to handle the stress of anxiety when you're running on empty. I try not to let myself get too run down or I leave myself open to attacks like this, but if you aren't prone to them they can be really scary because you don't know what's happening." Sakurai explained before getting to his feet from where he'd been kneeling in front of Midorima so he could call to the others. "It's alright now, he's fine but could use something to eat if someone happens to have a granola bar or something."

Midorima had closed his eyes when Sakurai moved away, so was startled to find his lap full of snacks, only to look up into concerned purple. Murasakibara and Himuro had gotten there just moments after Midorima had taken the spell and had been filled in on what was going on. The giant center heard Sakurai call out for food and well, guess what he always had.

Never had anyone seen the nearly violently territorial player share so much, ever. "Feel better Midochin." Was all he said before walking away munching on a fresh Maiubo.

Midorima was not crying, really, he wasn't.


	16. Photograph

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> How do you get a pack of hyperactive teen-aged boys to calm down long enough to take their picture? The patience of a saint, the glare of Akashi, and basketball of course.

To give Midorima some time to recover Akashi felt the best course of action would be to get things started and just keep an eye on him as they spoke. They really had piled just one too many stresses onto him, first the shoot where he would have to willingly stand in front of a camera, then the heartfelt confessions of his friends and teammate, and now the truth that Ryou discovered of his rushed preparations that morning which left him vulnerable to shock. No wonder he had been unable to handle the strain as he usually would, Akashi did not doubt it would have been difficult for anyone in his shoes much less Shintaro who always did have problems adjusting to social environments. Games were held in the afternoons or evenings, not the morning, he had time to prepare himself for the onslaught unlike today.

He began speaking smoothly, showing no signs of his thoughts to the others. "Alright, I'll leave this in the hands of Ryouta and Mitsuko to explain fully; but in the simplest of terms we want a few simple shots of the team line ups we have planned out for the showcase then a few in game photos with us playing. The studio has set up a hoop for this purpose and the magazine has agreed to run a full spread in honor of the first game, we want to try and get at least one good picture of all of us performing our specialties." The outline of the plan was easy enough to understand, but for the rest he handed it over to Kise.

"The posed shots are easy, you just stand there and look pretty, it's the action shots that will be tricky." He evaluated, sounding both excited to be working with his friends and serious because this was his job and he was good at it. "For those of us that play Forward and the Shooting guards it will be relatively simple to get good shots, oh and feel free to show off. This is one time you want to draw as much attention to yourself as possible that way if there is anyone else in the shot people looking at the picture know immediately who the focus is. This also helps the photographers to get a decently framed shot of the court if they know where to aim the cameras at any given time. The pictures will look a lot better at the end if they can manage that."

"Question?" Aomine spoke up bluntly, "Just how fast can those cameras follow? When Satsuki tries to take my picture for my mother it's nothing but a blur." Humility was not Aomine's strong point, and it probably never would be.

"This is for a sport's magazine Aominecchi, they are all high-speed cameras with fast exposures being used by professionals who have covered many sporting events before including the Winter Cup, don't worry about them and do your best; they can keep up!" Kise chirped happily with a grin, excited at the prospect of seeing him let loose again. No matter how often he saw it, Aomine playing at full strength would never lose its thrill for Kise.

Izuki was the one to bring him out of his daydream, "Hey! You said it would be simple for the Forwards and Shooting guards, but what about the Point guards or Kuroko? What we do isn't flashy like you guys, and might not make for good pictures, but we are important too!" He protested a bit, with a glance towards Akashi. The most frightening member of the Generation of Miracles to those that actually knew them was also the second most likely to be underestimated, well once outsiders became aware of Kuroko's existence that was.

Kise's normal glow seemed to dim a moment, "I didn't mean to say you weren't! It's just going to be harder to show you guys off is all. I would suggest focusing on stealing instead of passing, and Kurokocchi should do more shooting than he usually would, just for the sake of the cameras; that kind of thing. I would never try and say you aren't important, I know better!" He tried to impress, both because it was true, and if he didn't do a convincing job he knew his old captain would be more than willing to fillet him; figuratively or otherwise was always a toss-up when it came to Akashi's moods even now. He still had a lot to learn when it came to having normal relationships with people, but he was giving it an honest try; that was the important part.

"So basically, you want us to be ball hogs?" Takao realized, commenting with a raised eyebrow once he realized what the golden haired copycat was trying to get at.

It wasn't Kise who answered, but Mitsuko, "Yes, that's exactly what he should have said. Whatever honor you guys have in a real game doesn't count here, remember you aren't actually playing, you really are only trying to look good. It would actually be great for us if you would all agree to work together to play up each other's skills. Just go ahead and use the plays that make each other look the best even if you would lose points doing it, that kind of thing. If you work with us we can get all of you looking great in this photo spread, if not you're probably not going to like the end result. Trust me, it is in your best interest to cooperate."

"I'm sure you will find their behavior entirely pleasing," Akashi's tone promised pain if any of them did otherwise, and there was a collective gulp that just went to show that he hadn't lost any of his powers of intimidation.

Mitsuko smiled, "For some reason I didn't expect anything else. Now let's get you boys changed and ready." She ordered, sending them off to the wardrobe department with quick gestures they knew better than to disobey.

She did reach out to touch Midorima's arm to stop him walking by though, "I just wanted to say I didn't know it would affect you so much, but I'm not all that sorry for what happened. You really needed to hear that. I had no idea they had never told you all of that before, they really should have."

"I'm not mad at you," He responded tiredly, "You didn't know what would happen." Causing an argument while they were still surrounded by strangers was not something he wanted to get into; plus, it was true. No one, not even himself, could have known what was going to happen when the others starting adding in their opinions.

"Just make sure you listen to us, please, at least do that much. We like you, there isn't anything wrong with what you do. Just be yourself and stop worrying so much." She encouraged before patting his shoulder and shooing him towards where the others had gone.

He just gave her a long look, debating with himself over saying anything further, before realizing he just didn't have the energy for it when he needed all the strength he could get for the day he had ahead of him. With that in mind he made his way over to where Takao was waiting impatiently for him when he realized his teammate wasn't following the group anymore.

Akashi and Momoi had a surprise waiting for them in the dressing room, they had been busy designing jerseys for the two sides of the showcase. Aomine's side would be playing in the light jerseys, with Akashi in the dark as just another way of separating their competitive teams from the showcase. Momoi had proposed the black and white color scheme because any of the other colors would stray into the territory of favoritism, though Akashi was very tempted to go with blue but there were far too many memories of Teiko for Momoi to let him to get away with that one. Move forward, not back, she was forcing him to keep that firmly in mind while designing these jerseys.

They didn't want them to be too simple, otherwise they would look like Touou; so they had a flame pattern licking up the side panels on the top and bottom. Black with white flames for Aomine's team, and white with black flames for Akashi's. It was imposing but classic and would make for good pictures in a magazine without being too busy.

For those players that shared numbers, like Kagami and Takao, there was another surprise. The hawk eyed player was handed his jersey and was treated to the sight of his old number from middle school, a tidbit of information Momoi had easily dug up. Kagami had grown up playing on the streets, until he came to Seirin he hadn't played with a number making the Shutoku point guard the one to take on a previous identity. Akashi and Kasamatsu were fine in staying with their number four jerseys since they were on opposite sides and there wasn't another Captain that could challenge Kasamatsu for the spot on that side. No matter how good the Miracles were they were a bunch of loose cannons without a leader, it was best he kept up his place as Captain even if he was playing with four Miracles if you count Kagami. Midorima would have been the second best choice for Captain if Kasamatsu wasn't there since he was Akashi's second, but they had talked it out during the last few weeks of downtime. They just hadn't known there was going to be custom jerseys made.

Akashi knew the Shadow was approaching even before he spoke, but was still surprised by the words themselves, "Thank you very much Akashi-kun, for the jerseys, but how did you justify the expense?" Kuroko asked calmly and quietly, the two of them already changed and waiting for the rest of the rowdier boys to be finished. Kuroko knew despite the claim that the studio was providing the clothing, this was done by the Red Emperor.

Akashi's eyes flicked over to study Kuroko for a moment before returning to gaze firmly in front of him, "I did not have to. The concept and design was left in the hands of myself and Satsuki but I was not the one who funded the actual order for them."

It only took a moment for Kuroko to realize who else would both be able to do something like that, and not want to announce it. "Taiga-kun, he did it; didn't he?"

"Yes, and don't think I went begging either. We both know I have far too much pride for that and would have just gone ahead with the plan of avoiding established team jerseys. It was actually Taiga's idea to create something new for the showcase but he had no idea how to go about getting something like that accomplished here in Japan, so he let us handle the business side of it while he financed it." Akashi explained.

A new, slightly bashful, but altogether proud voice added to the conversation. "When I told my parents what the money was going for they had no problem with it and have already donated that and plan to give much more in the future to the charity under the company name. They really like the concept of the showcase as a way of enticing kids into actually working for a scholarship and would be willing to talk with you and your father about it more Akashi. I wasn't kidding when I said I wasn't very good at business so I couldn't tell them a whole lot, but they liked what little I could manage to get explained." Kagami admitted.

"You think your parents would like to be corporate partners with the Akashi Conglomerate in running the charity?" Akashi asked with obvious interest.

"That's the way it sounded, and between the two of us if things don't work out with your dad you have a standing invitation to interview with us." Kagami informed with a little smile, which only widened as Kuroko's smaller hand slipped into his and squeezed in thanks.

"They're giving me a job, just like that?" Akashi wasn't sure how he felt about that.

Kagami quickly shook his head, "That's not what I said. My parents are good people, but they are still the heads of an international company. No one gets a freebie, not even me, I would have to put in the work to keep my spot if I choose to go into business. I said you have a standing interview, that just means you have the chance to get a job with us, not a guaranteed place. You should know that better than I do. With the way you've been taught I don't see them turning you down, but it will still be a completely legal and fair hiring process."

"That's actually a relief. It will be nice to know I earned what I have for once. Of course I am still going to do my best to uphold the family name, but thank you for telling me I have an attractive alternative." Akashi was truly grateful.

Kagami shrugged, "Most of that is from my parents, I don't have much control over it. All I did was tell them what you were up to. If you have anyone to thank for what is happening; it's yourself."

"Wait, what's going on?" Izuki's voice interrupted, sounding a little stunned as he had heard just enough of the conversation to realize he had missed something big about Seirin's ace, that they all had.

"It's nothing Senpai!" Kagami was practically tripping over his words to cover his embarrassment. He really didn't want to be treated any differently by his team, not one bit.

"Taiga merely has familial connections that may be of use to me at a later time, but that is unimportant at the moment." Akashi was much, much, smoother than the taller red-head at covering the conversation and distracting the elder player. "Now we should head back to the main set for the posed shots. They are simplest and will be easiest to get out of the way now as it appears the others have already discovered."

Since the trio had been locked in conversation they hadn't realized the others had been herded towards the team of photographers Kise had attempted to introduce that morning but his sister had decidedly stolen that thunder. Something told the slightly stunned basketball players that was a common occurrence.

For all that this was supposed to be the easy part, and they had done this before when getting interviewed during the Inter-high and Winter Cup, standing still was not something that came naturally to them. It took the better part of an hour to get the still shots of each team done to the satisfaction of the photographers. This was the difference between model quality and on the fly on the side of a court, for some reason a good portion of the boys had a sudden increase of respect for Kise. Sure, in his own words it was just standing there and looking pretty, but that was actually kind of hard. How he did it when he was so constantly hyper they didn't know.

They quickly learned though that both Kise siblings became harsh task masters when camera lenses were in focus. Any playful roughhousing or giggling was quickly quashed with glares and snapped threats with surprising effectiveness. They tried to make it as easy as they could on the camera shy ones in the bunch, but in the end there wasn't much they could do other than just work on getting this done as quickly and efficiently as possible.

Once the particularly stubborn and mischievous ones realized they were only causing themselves more grief and got down to business -read Aomine and Takao-, the shoot went well. Athletes who took care of their bodies and knew how to move would usually take good pictures, maybe with a little coaxing, but these were young fairly attractive males just reaching their peak. Yes, they looked good on film, no harm in admitting that. So when the raw material was so good, the photographers had a fairly easy time of it after they got the boys to actually stop moving for a millisecond.

They were expecting to be lead to an outside hoop, not a well-constructed half-court indoors. Mitsuko explained the confusion, "It would be too difficult to control the light if we left it to chance outside. Studios are used to building sets on the spot and this is not the first time there's been a basketball court here, also volleyball and tennis; plus a few others. Welcome to the big league boys."

Himuro looked over the mock court carefully, and then glanced over at his large teammate and the other rowdy aces, "It can handle a bit of rough play right? I mean, what happens if something breaks?"

"Don't worry, I know exactly what's got you concerned; I watched them grow up remember?" She was more than willing to ease his worries, because he was not the only one to have them, and she had been working with the studio to fix some of the issues that might come up with a pack of overly-competitive Miracles playing. "They're stronger now than they were in middle school and I don't know as much about the new players like you, but I warned the builders to put extra support around the base of the hoop and matts on the edges of the sets. If you guys lose control of a play you won't get hurt. You might pull the backboard down, but the nice thing about a temporary set like this is it will be easy to put back up for a reshoot and you don't have to worry about leaving it in good condition for the next game."

"So can we get this over with already?" Aomine grumbled, stepping onto the set and looking around like a basketball was just going to appear. "What do you want us to do?"

"Well, for starters, warm up a little bit and play around. Let our photographers get a feel for how you move on this court so they can track you better when you really start letting loose." Mitsuko directed. "I know it's going to be odd to play on a half sized court, but this is what you have so learn to deal with it the best you can. Ryouta keeps telling me you guys are the best, prove it here and show me you can play anywhere. Akashi-kun I'll leave it up to you to make the call when to move onto serious plays for the true photos, sound good?"

"We can do that." Akashi confirmed, his firm gaze daring any player to put a toe out of line in defiance.

One of the studio hands produced three basketballs that were tossed onto the court for them to warm up with. Any more than that would just be asking for chaos when the set was crowded with people, lights, and equipment. Aomine and Kagami immediately captured one for a short but furious round of one-on-one to prove who would take power forward in the promotional shots, cameras flashing constantly as they clashed even if the pictures wouldn't be used in this particular spread they might be used later. The opportunity was simply too good to waste.

The result was not what anyone expected, at least of those who hadn't experienced the ongoing battles of one-on-ones of the two aces. So most of the people in the room. Aomine's range was hampered by the studio set, he couldn't move like normal around the back of the hoop or really pick up speed on only half a court; under those conditions Kagami won the right to lead their side for the photo shoot. His skills were better suited to a half-court battle, especially with how he had been working on expanding the variety of his shots.

Kise, apparently, had not learned the concept of self-preservation any better at Kaijo than he had at Teiko, "Yay Aominecchi! You're playing my old position and I get to play yours! This is going to be so much fun!" Kise had taken Power Forward, Kuroko was Small Forward, Sakurai was Shooting Guard, and Himuro had decided to play Center for their side; with Akashi as Point guard of course.

The look Aomine gave Kise would strip paint, "This time maybe, but just you wait, I'll beat him next time!" Oh yeah, blood may have just been spilled if they hadn't been in public. Aomine would not tolerate someone else hurting his friends, himself, well that was another story. Maybe. Okay, he might be bluffing, but Kise didn't have to know that.

"Boys, focus!" Mitsuko called. "We need you to play remember!? Kagami and Aomine, that was great, now the rest of you follow their lead. I know you're getting restless, so just play and stop thinking about the cameras. Have fun."

With one fuming Aomine and a Kise fearing for his life, the game that sprung up from Mitsuko's words was actually pretty eventful. A little trick to getting the Miracles to take a play seriously was to piss them off, or make them want to outdo each other. With Aomine trying to one-up Kise, that had Kagami forcing himself to perform better to prove he'd earned his spot as Power Forward which dragged the other members of the teams along for the roller coaster ride. After a while Mitsuko realized they had a problem though and if they wanted to get decent shots of the others they would have to take drastic measures and she quite literally kicked the three Aces off the court to give the others the chance they needed to shine. Kuroko came in handy once again for that.

His skill always was making players other than himself look good. He could do it with anyone he knew well and he'd been running himself into the ground trying to understand the styles of the people playing in the showcase. The only reason he wasn't face down on the court everyday was he already knew a good portion of them, the Miracles from Teiko and Kagami and Izuki from Seirin. Having played every team before while competing in the Inter-High and Winter Cup he wasn't working entirely from scratch on the others either, which was good, he'd put a lot of effort into studying the teammates of his old Lights. Especially Touou and Kaijo since he had come against them more than once.

Misdirection might look like magic, but it took genuine skill to pull off. There were two sides to it, the one that made him retreat to the Shadows and the other that augmented his Lights.

For the players that had never worked directly with Kuroko and experienced what it was like to be his Light for a few moments, it was something they were unlikely to ever forget. Playing with him was like having an invisible guardian around you covering for your every mistake. Kuroko was in the shadows even to their own senses, they honestly felt like they were playing alone it was so easy to forget he was there; but no matter how tightly they were being blocked or how hopeless a situation looked, passes got through and points were made.

It was easy to look good for the cameras with Kuroko helping them out. He knew exactly how to bring out their talents, some of which even they didn't know would look good on film. How steady Sakurai held himself while he shot, and how high Himuro could jump when defending the hoop, or how focused Kasamatsu was as he expertly handled the ball.

To make sure the cameras did not forget Kuroko himself this time Akashi was quick to conspire with Murasakibara, so that there was a clear view of a beautiful phantom shot that sailed neatly into the hoop after a pass was directed to the shadow from the Emperor.

Soon they were done, and the one thing they could all agree on was, "That was not enough!" Aomine summed it up for all of them.

"Good thing we are heading to the training camp after this." Kagami couldn't agree more and was itching to get back on the court.

Takao added on, "And there will be more people there, we can get really into it. This is going to be great! Awesome idea Akashi."

"Yeah, it is a good idea." Kasamatsu added. "Thank you for thinking about the others who are not playing in the showcase. They were feeling restless and are glad to be included in this much at least."

"It was no problem," Akashi responded to the compliments calmly, as he had been taught. "And this was planned by more than just me, Coach Aida from Seirin also had a lot to contribute and Momoi Satsuki added in her own expertise to acquire accommodations at a reasonable rate for all the teams wishing to join in."

"I've been meaning to ask about that, what did you find?" Himuro asked curiously. Yosen was too far out of range to worry about it all that much. They knew they had a place to sleep and somewhere to play, that's all they cared about in the long run.

"We have rented out the mountain cabin that Tetsuya, Taiga, and Shun should be familiar with since they trained there last summer. It was cheaper than their beach housing by enough of an amount to tip the balance; it was also available at a group rate if we agreed to rent the whole building; which we did." Akashi explained, sounding proud but noticing immediately that the three mentioned players had all blanched when the cabin was named. "Is there a problem with the location?"

"Well, not exactly," Kagami tried to answer, rubbing at his neck. "It's great for playing, I liked their court, but well, there's a reason it's cheap. They don't have a cafeteria; you have to do all your own cooking and usually it's only the coaches that can still move during training camps…" He left it hanging there, hoping he wouldn't have to come out and say they were all in imminent danger of death via food poisoning.

Izuki said what he didn't, "Look, I love Riko, she's a great coach but she really can't cook; I mean really can't. If she decides to do the cooking for Seirin again we will probably die."

"There has to be enough of us this time we can keep you guys from starving, right?" Sakurai proposed with wide eyes at the thought, he was just starting to feel like he belonged, he didn't want him to die.

"Let's hope so," Kagami responded, face pale at the thought of the deadly hot pot and dangerous curry debacle. Riko could do things to food he didn't think was possible, and he had honestly tried to teach her the last time they had a training camp, apparently it hadn't stuck.

"We won't know until we get there, so can we just get moving already?!" Aomine demanded impatiently.

"I don't see why not," Akashi's statement was met with actual cheers of excitement as the boys raced to the entrance of the magazine studio and Kise hugged his sister goodbye before she collapsed into a chair exhausted. That had been a very long day, but damn had those kids grown up well. She missed them a lot and it was good to see them laughing again and playing with smiles on their faces. Her brother had gone through a very dark period of time right after Middle school where he dealt with his friendships falling apart and his talent growing too fast again. She genuinely feared for him, he was so happy usually, but had the potential to be so very cold around people he didn't like or trust.

Light and warmth was coming back to his life and she was so proud of him. Mitsuko hoped it would last, because the last thing she wanted was for her golden brother to lose his shine.


	17. Point of No Return

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Aomine vs. Midorima, enough said.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay so what I did for Kaijo to cover my mistake with Kasamatsu's year is I switched out the third and second years from canon. This means Moriyama and Kasamatsu are at the camp, while Hayakawa and Nakamura have graduated in their place. I apologize for the mix-up and hope this isn't too confusing.

By the time the group from the studio made it to the training camp the rest of the players were already in the gym. The newly arrived boys wasted no time in switching to their practice gear before hitting the court with them; pumped up from the little taste of a match they'd gotten at the studio but all of them needing more.

It looked like the boys were mixing together well, unlike what some of the coaches had initially feared, and had managed to spread out and join up with players from other teams instead of just clustering together. Groups of like positions were cropping up in these initial bouts of warm-ups, and while sure there was a certain amount of showing off, there was enough genuine respect for each other too that the overseeing coaches from Seirin, Yosen, Touou, and Shutoku felt like this trip might just work out.

Riko did admit during a water break her father would probably show up before too much longer; he was far too interested in what they were up to for him just to stay out of it. If the other coaches winced a bit at the news the elder Aida would be involved it wasn't mentioned, though it did make the boys curious why they would tolerate his muscling in on the camp if they didn't really like him. Not counting Seirin, those boys just looked wary since they'd already endured his unorthodox but effective training.

Riko was scanning over the groups of players, realizing the warm-ups had devolved into what was rapidly turning into an all-out war. A group of first years from Seirin and Kaijo were ganging up on the Shutoku second years, spurring the third years from Touou into mounting a rescue mission as an excuse to come trounce the Kaijo and Seirin players; the three teams were something of eternal rivals ever since the previous Inter-High.

Needless to say a mix of third and second years from two nationally ranked teams were completely slaughtering the first years who'd started the whole thing; Wakamatsu and Takao joining the fray with bloodthirsty grins certainly not helping the odds.

With an excited nod between them Koganei and Mitobe leaped in to give their first years support, the cat-boy laughing happily as the pair synched up with both their own new teammates and the ones from Kaijo; proving Kuroko was not the only versatile one when it came to joining talents together effectively. Their side further bolstered when Himuro decided to come out and play too; the first Yosen player to hit the court for the mock match.

It was fun, it got the blood pumping, and for once the court was being utterly dominated by talented players having the time of their lives without a single Miracle getting in their way. The six players from Teiko, plus Kagami lurking by Kuroko, decided to back down and let the others have a turn at the full court, especially when it was such a good match up.

"Oi Midorima, might wanna warn your Hawk he's not going to be able to hear if he keeps linking up with Wakamatsu like that," Aomine drawled after nearly twenty minutes of solid playing, by now fidgeting and pacing at the sidelines, just barely refraining from racing into the game himself but all it took was a single glare from Akashi before he realized that would be a very, very bad idea.

Midorima took his eyes off the impressive pass his teammate had just made to Touou's new captain for long enough to glare at Aomine, "Takao is NOT my anything!" He snapped before turning back to watching, though he was overheard muttering. "Don't lump me in with your chasing anything on two legs with a big chest or dribbling a basketball."

"Oh? I'm sorry, I didn't catch that? Were you just trying to say something about me?" Aomine challenged, finding a new target for his energy. Teasing Midorima would always be a nice little opportunity to have some fun; much like picking on Kise.

Midorima might have been shy around those he didn't know, but he was not a wimp, and he liked a challenge just as much as the other Miracles. "Take it as you will," He simply responded casually, not taking his eyes away from the game.

"Oh that's it! You and I, one-on-one, as soon as this game is over; you got that?!" There was blue fire burning in Aomine's eyes, and answering green sparks shooting from Midorima's.

The shooting guard raised his chin haughtily, as if debating for a moment, before bringing his head down to meet Aomine's challenge head on, "As you wish." He allowed, a smirk pulling the corners of his mouth up.

Either word had even managed to spread out to the melee on the court, or the boys had reached the end of their endurance at an opportune moment for the pair of Miracles since floor space was very soon freed up for their little competition.

The two of them had barely set one toe on the court when they were hailed by a voice that turned their blood to ice, "Shintaro, Daiki," Akashi called out calmly, waiting until the both of them were turned and giving him their full attention. "No time limit, first to ten points wins, and you have permission to use the full court. Show me what you've learned." He ordered, without asking any of the other coaches or captains, because really, who was going to interrupt such a good opportunity to watch a head-on battle between two Miracles?

They reached the center of the court in time for the Shutoku coach to be ready with a toss-up, wanting to see what the Miracle he'd managed to nab could do against the wild Ace they'd heard so many horror stories of.

Midorima and Aomine were opposites on the court, something that was a great advantage when they played on the same team because they could trap opponents in a pincer attack that devastated no matter if the other team was tough on the inside or outside. Against each other it was like oil and water. Aomine's close shots were amazing in their own right, coming out of nowhere and at angles that should be impossible for all rational laws of physics unless it was this particular boy getting his hands on a basketball; however their beauty and oddity didn't change the fact they were usually worth two points apiece; Midorima's shots with very, very few exceptions took three but had a defined method and range. Basic math suggested Midorima should win every battle, but no, not with these two stubborn ones.

Less points per shot just meant Aomine fought like a man possessed, choosing to even out the pure math with sheer numbers of baskets. Midorima expected him to do this, and instead of taking his usual place on the outskirts of the court where he often waited for just the right moment to score off defense and rebounds; he went on the attack. He got in Aomine's face, using his height advantage –something Kagami or Kise didn't have- and kept stepping into his range of motion; breaking his stride and opening up opportunities to steal the ball.

Once Midorima had control of the ball he could shoot from any point on the court and make it, just so long as he had managed to sprint far enough ahead Aomine couldn't knock the ball away before it reached the height of its arc. Height wasn't the enemy like when Midorima played against Kagami and Murasakibara, it was speed, just like always when a player came against Aomine.

But Midorima had size and sheer power on his side, the length of his stride was longer than Aomine's, not so much you could tell on a regular basis, but here and now where every centimeter counted it made a difference. In other words if it was a flat sprint Midorima could outpace Aomine for a very short burst, but probably wouldn't win a race against him. When he did manage to steal the ball, he would have to make a shot just half a step ahead of Aomine. That was all the gap he would ever get so he made sure it was the only one he needed.

All of that was a little something he'd been working on since drawing with Kagami in the Winter Cup and realizing he needed to add something else, a new element to his play that wouldn't be overtly noticeable but could make the difference between a tie and a win. It was for this very same reason that he'd developed his buzzer beater end game in middle school.

He was pretty sure the only ones who knew exactly what he was doing differently were Takao, Akashi, his coach, and quite probably Kuroko.

He wasn't shooting more often, or from different angles, the shot itself was the same; no what he'd changed was the time it took to make it. He'd been spending time on pure strength training between the Winter Cup and now, developing the muscles as thoroughly as he could in his whole body for the singular purpose of handling the strain of making his incredibly taxing shots faster. It wasn't just his shoulders and back he needed to be strong in, it was everywhere, the more power he could pack into his frame the better.

The downside to being stronger than he'd ever been was he'd also gained at least ten pounds of pure muscle and lost some of the flexibility in his long limbs, in other words he could shoot and run faster but couldn't jump quite as high or turn as well anymore. Kagami and Murasakibara were still in command of the air, but on the ground, as Midorima sailed his latest shot neatly through the hoop ensuring himself the win with a tiny smile the others realized there was a new heavy weight sneaking up on the Forwards.

Aomine looked at the shooting guard in shock, his second loss of the day was to someone who had so far never beaten him. He was having what may just be the worst day of his life, almost like someone had taken all the wind out of his sails.

"The win goes to Shintaro," Akashi announced, and if he sounded a bit like he was intentionally rubbing salt into Aomine's open wounds; well, that's because he was. He did have a reason for it though as the others slowly realized when he continued talking. "Eleven points to eight, I expected nothing less of the two of you, though maybe not this exact result." He turned his heterochromatic gaze towards Aomine. "You spent far too long after Teiko wallowing Daiki, many mistakes were made in your treatment in the past –some of which were my own- but you mustn't continue those habits now, and don't tell me you aren't because it shows that you are still not progressing the way I know you could."

Aomine looked like he was about to bolt at the assessment, but the sheer force of Akashi's stare kept him in place as he continued drilling the point into his think skull, "Taiga is a strong opponent, and your Captain a willing foil in your struggles with your ego, so they were good choices to begin your road to recovery with and while I understand returning to who you used to be amounts to rebuilding yourself piece-by-piece because I have the same task; we should never have left you to feel like you needed to make this journey by yourself. Today served to prove that. Shintaro won this match fair and square, and deserved to as he has improved magnificently; however you in your prime should have lasted far longer against such an attack. I have seen you come against tougher walls and beat them. Fight back Daiki, remember the old you even when it feels like he might be gone forever. I promise to do whatever is needed so that you will have found him again by the end of this camp. That is if you promise to meet me in my efforts?" He proposed bluntly, and even those listening realized Aomine was truly being offered something here; it was not being forced on him.

"You should do it Dai-chan, please?" Momoi practically begged, having been watching the boys practice from within the circle of coaches. She may or may not have been there as extra insurance for keeping the Miracles in line when Akashi was unavailable or busy with his own training. There were only two people outside of the Miracles that had any hope whatsoever of controlling the lot of them, only one of whom was commonly recognized; Momoi. The other may not be around anymore, but they would still listen if he asked them to do something; Nijimura.

Aomine just crossed his arms in front of himself sulkily without responding verbally, but he did nod jerkily in irritation, looking every bit the angry feline as he did so.

That made Kise laugh, "And here I thought Kagamicchi was the tiger!"

"Shut up Kise!" Two voices rang out in unison, making both rivals glare hotly at each other for a moment before turning away petulantly at being caught doing the same thing again.

A different voice spoke up then, "Still though, that was Aomine holding back?! Holy shit dude, what can't you do?" Moriyama looked at Touou's ace in awe, not quite believing what he was hearing.

"Not exactly holding back," Akashi was quick to correct, "My players would never disobey me when I tell them to show me what they can do; he's playing as well as his current conditioning allows. That is the problem though, he should be far better than he is. At Teiko at one point it had stopped being mandatory for Daiki to attend practices and unfortunately the habit has stuck, same for Atsushi and Ryouta, though Ryouta appears to be recovering well from the mindset."

Kaijo's third year pretty boy just smirked ruefully, "It wasn't easy getting through to him at first, let me tell you that much; Kasamatsu had to pretty much beat it into him that he had to come;" Moriyama admitted with a shrug as their Miracle did an impression of a tomato. "The ego on this one, I have never seen anything like it."

"You think Kise is bad, try this bastard!" Wakamatsu grumbled, gesturing to his own smirking Ace, "At least Imayoshi made a deal with the devil and had a chance of controlling him; the rest of us mere mortals are out of luck."

"Oh trust me, you guys have absolutely no idea how good you have it; right Sei-chan?" A straightforward but definitely amused voice joined in the teasing making a different Miracle realize maybe, just maybe, having his own starters mixed in with the others would be a decision he would end up regretting. Mibuchi, Hayama, and Nebuya were all staring at him; Rakuzan's shooting guard the one Uncrowned King brave enough to speak against their tiny but terrifying captain. "You need to make deals with devils to control your Miracle, we're not completely unconvinced ours isn't a demon himself." Reo casually admitted.

"This coming from the Yaksha?" Hyuuga barbed, never ever able to forget –or imitate for that matter- the other player's smooth and beautiful shooting style that completely decimated his opponents. The Kings earned their titles.

The way Reo immediately turned his attention to Hyuuga, Seirin's Captain found himself regretting speaking. "Well now Hyuuga-kun, are you calling me a demon?"

"Close enough," Hyuuga insisted, before trying to divert attention, "Okay is that everyone here now? At least of the school teams, I know your father is still on the way Riko."

A quick once over of the gym revealed that yes, finally everyone who was scheduled to be there had made it. Other than the showcase players Kaijo had brought their first string and the new recruits from that spring's tryouts; trusting them to the care of Kasamatsu while their others strings got some personalized attention back home. Rakuzan had done the same once Akashi realized how good an idea Kasamatsu had in inviting the first years. It sounded like a good plan to give the untested players something to shoot for in their efforts to grow in the sport. Yosen and Shutoku had taken a slightly different approach, they specifically invited their struggling players from whatever year they happened to be in to join the starters and coaches at the camp. The ones having trouble would be cast into the gym with the top dogs and given a kind of trial by fire, it would be the quickest method to get them up to speed in a short amount of time. Touou and Seirin were the only schools with small enough teams they had brought all of their players and still didn't manage to completely overcrowd the gym.

Realizing they had all their victim—I mean players ready, the coaches descended with their claws out, setting up harsh drills planned out after watching the warm-ups to get a feel for who would work best against each other to grow talents. They mixed together the different schools and years, putting good players with bad, forcing them to keep up as much as they could.

Pitting shooting guards against centers and points guards against forwards was a neat way of tying up loose ends while working one-on-one with the stragglers or stand-outs. Teaching each position good ways of countering their bane, be it speed or height, strength or agility; and the Miracles became just part of the crowd when the gym was so full to bursting with players of all levels. It got to the point even without setting up mock games the coaches feared injury and sent half the kids to the outside court with Araki and Harasawa, keeping the other half inside with Riko and Nakatani. The chaos only growing when the elder Aida showed up and decided –after thoroughly embarrassing his daughter- to join the group training outside and hassle the Touou and Yosen coaches for the time being; leaving Riko to work with Shutoku's coach and the indoor group.

It was a long hard day, and the boys fell into their meals like starving wolves; finding themselves in Kise's debt. The model had made a call once he realized the sheer gravity of the situation, the optimism from earlier squeezed from their very bones by the painful training, and a number of his fanclub had shown up ready to volunteer their time to keep the boys from suffering violent food poisoning.

The boys went off to shower in small groups as they finished dinner, and it gave Reo the opportunity to confront his Captain about something that had been bothering him since the match between Aomine and Midorima earlier in the day.

"That was cruel, and you know it Sei-chan," Reo admonished, letting the warm water beat onto his sore shoulders. Training with everyone was very effective but it did make him hurt in places he forgot he had.

A gold eye peeked at him critically from the neighboring spray, "I fail to see what you mean?"

"What you did to Midorima-kun," Reo explained, turning towards his captain and staring down reproachfully; one of only a few people who could get away with looking down on Akashi without fear of imminent death. Not that a little singeing wasn't possible, but he kept going anyway because this was for the red emperor's own good. "He did very well today, as someone who plays his position I can tell you what he managed to do was no simple feat, but you focusing your attention on Aomine-kun took all that effort and achievement away from him. You should have let him have his glory and gone to Aomine in private."

Akashi couldn't hold the gaze, he knew Reo was right, but this time he had a reason for his cruelty. "It wouldn't have worked, because that isn't how Daiki thinks. He needed to be shocked into listening to me. I had to use the sting of the loss to back him into a corner while it was still fresh in his mind or he would just brush me off again like all the other times."

"So you chose his needs over Shintaro's?" Reo asked bluntly, knowing he was treading a very fine line of bringing out Akashi's more violent personality, but he had to do it, this was necessary. His Captain had to see his actions for what they were.

Akashi seemed to sink in on himself as he responded very quietly, "Yes, alright, is that what you want to hear? I chose Daiki over Shintaro this time. Believe me it has long been Daiki's turn but he gets passed over far too often. His talent leaves him vulnerable to being forgotten. The coaches and magazines and crowds see how he plays and think that's all he can do, so they don't push him. His old Captain, I could tell he had an inkling that Daiki was far stronger than he let on and tried to bring it out; but he was too late. They didn't have the right catalyst until Taiga showed up, and by then Daiki was too deep into the mindset that he would never find someone good enough. Don't you see it Reo? I had to make him listen. Shintaro has already broken through his wall, beating Daiki today proved that, so yes I used him." He admitted, logically, reasonably, but oh so very brokenly; as if waiting for the axe to fall for making another cutthroat decision he had no right to be making for a player that wasn't his to command any more.

He was enveloped in wet skin as the taller player hugged him gently, "Sei-chan, I just wanted you to admit it to yourself and not push it to the side. Don't ignore what you have done like in the past. Acknowledge it, own your mistakes and talk to the people you hurt, try and figure out a way to make this up to Shintaro. I believe you did the right thing by Daiki, but that does not excuse the damage you did in making that happen."

Akashi pulled away to collect himself while finishing up his shower, and turning off the water with a decisive twist of the knob he turned back to the now silent Reo calmly rinsing shampoo from his black hair, "I'll try, but I am not the best at apologizing."

That made the third year smile, "Oh, Sei-chan, no one is expecting you to be able to move mountains for him. I just want you to tell him what you told me, and let him know you saw how hard he worked to get where he is."

"I did try to say that earlier," Akashi was quick to point out while toweling off, "I made it as clear as I could even while I was working on Daiki that Shintaro deserved to win the match."

"I know," Reo acknowledged, "It wasn't enough though, your praise for him got lost in the revelation that the Miracle most of the world sees as the best is actually still straggling. Aomine-kun is terrifying to most players, myself included, even as he is now. The idea that he could actually get better is a bit unsettling to tell the truth, but I don't want to see him hurting either."

"I'll let you in on a secret, you wouldn't know this since we never got the chance to play him, but Daiki is not the one to be afraid of." Akashi warned, "It's not Atsushi either, though he really could be but he just doesn't have the motivation; he only plays hard when he wants to."

"You have my attention," Reo admitted curiously. "We played your Tetsuya, so it isn't him or Taiga either, so which is it?"

"Daiki has been playing basketball since he was a small child, he loves the game with every fiber of his being; that is both why he is so good and why it is so painful to see him throw it all away." Akashi explained slowly as the two of them got changed into clean clothes. "So tell me, would you be more fearful of him, or the one who matched his style after only playing for two years?"

"Kise, you think Kise is better than Aomine, or at least could be." Reo realized, "But, wait, didn't he lose that match?"

"Ryouta may have lost the Inter-High match, yes." Akashi confirmed. "However, he did not lose from lack of skill. Daiki beat him in stamina, that is all, and he confirmed it himself. Those two are far more even than Ryouta himself realizes by this point. He shifted his focus to Taiga following the Winter Cup and left Daiki as his idol without noticing what he was doing. The showcase will teach him the truth though; Tetsuya and I will see to that."

"Good, but now you need to stop stalling and find Shintaro, and yes I know what you were doing." Reo urged, shooing Akashi away.

The camp's lodging areas weren't single rooms but more group areas where they could spread out in sleeping bags, all the ex-Teiko players -and a good number of the people in the showcase- had been placed in the same room, so it was fairly easy for Akashi to find Midorima when he finally knuckled down and started looking for him in earnest.

The only ones inside for now were Midorima, Takao, Kuroko, Kagami, and Kise; the others still finishing up their dinner or getting showers.

"Shintaro, there is something I need to say to you," Akashi started out very stilted, not used to this whole apologizing thing at all, before taking a deep breath and explaining nearly word-for-word exactly what he had told Reo earlier; only this time ending with. "I did not mean to discount what you have achieved, you played wonderfully, but I had to use the opportunity when it came since I had no idea if anyone else would manage to beat Daiki like that again. Can you forgive my rudeness?"

"Akashi, I already knew what you were doing, but thank you for actually apologizing to me." Midorima admitted, making heterochromatic eyes widen slightly in surprise. "Did you really think you were the only one who saw something was wrong with Aomine? I have been training hard, Takao can attest to that, but even I was surprised to win today. I shouldn't have."

"Oh yes you should have!" Akashi responded firmly, his voice echoed by every other person in the room at differing volumes. "You deserved that win, you discovered the key to beating Daiki and trained yourself in it until you succeeded. There was nothing undeserved about that outcome. You made him play to his max, have pride in that; I was not calling him out for holding back as I told Yoshitaka; merely for not growing his power like the rest of you have done. You truly did beat Daiki today Shintaro, fairly, with no tricks or handicaps. Believe in that."

"Yeah, you thrashed him," Kagami added, backing up Akashi, "I haven't seen someone take him down like that before. Nice job, he looked like a landed fish when he realized he lost."

Midorima allowed himself to smile a bit hearing he praise, "You mean you haven't seen anyone beat Aomine that wasn't yourself."

"Nah, I've seen him play Akashi and lose before, but not like that," Kagami refuted. "I meant it, I don't know what made the difference, but you had him cold. I don't think there was any way he could have won that match."

"You really couldn't see it Taiga-kun?" Kuroko spoke up quietly from his spot next to Seirin's ace.

Kagami shook his head, "Sorry, no. I mean I could tell something was different, you weren't moving like you usually do, but without playing you directly I couldn't get a read on it for myself." He was good at analyzing plays, but only when on the court, he couldn't do it just by watching.

Kise rolled onto his stomach and chirped happily in a sing-song voice, "I know something you don't know Kagamicchi!" He teased.

Midorima raised an elegant eyebrow at the copycat, "So you could see it too?"

"Of course I could," Kise confessed with a shrug, "Or did you happen to forget what it is I do?"

Oh, right, Akashi had once explained to him exactly what Kise did with his gift. It actually was not physical the way most people thought. His was a purely mental ability to see and break down plays step-by-step instantly, but it was up to his work ethic and will power to train his body enough to handle the physical side of recreating the motions.

"So, am I allowed to know, or are you keeping it a secret for some reason?" Kagami grumbled, slowly realizing he was probably the only one in the room who hadn't figured it out yet.

"Not much of a secret anymore," Midorima responded simply, without satisfying the tiger's curiosity at all.

Takao was going to put Kagami out of his misery, but found himself not needing to when the answer came from a grudgingly respectful voice issuing from a person newly arrived in the room, "His shots are faster, not by so much it's obvious, but it's enough." Aomine grumbled. "In the old days I could knock the ball away before the shot got too high, today I missed just enough times for him to beat me."

"So that's what beat you?" Kagami contemplated, thinking over the game, "Alright, I can see it, but damn now I really want to play you again Midorima."

"Tomorrow the coaches will be putting us into games for at least some of the day, you should get a chance then." Akashi advised.

Kagami grinned, "Good."


	18. Sleepwalker

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kagami is not the only insomniac at the training camp

Chapter Eighteen

Sleepwalker

With the revelation of Midorima's new skills and other enticing prospects about the next day swimming in his head, Kagami was falling back on old habits and having trouble sleeping the first night at the camp. It might not have been so bad if he and Kuroko were allowed near each other, but Izuki had laughingly put himself between the Phantom and the power forward, then -after sensing fun to be had- Himuro had slid into a sleeping bag next to his brother. Kagami had absolutely no doubt it was completely intentional that he had obscured the path between him and his Shadow.

It wasn't like he would try anything with a room full of other people, but it would be nice not to be completely isolated from Kuroko while staring at the ceiling with his pulse racing; driven by thoughts of the training they would get up to the next day.

Not wanting to wake the other guys up with his fidgeting he carefully snuck out of the room and down the hall to sit on the front steps of the building, only to find he wasn't the only one with this idea. Aomine was already out there, sprawled out on the steps, propping his upper body up on his elbows so he could stare blankly at the empty court and forested mountains.

He really must have been deep in thought because he didn't notice Kagami at all until the other boy sat down next to him, drawing his lazy blue gaze to the side for a moment, but he just went back to staring forwards without comment.

"Man, today really got to you, didn't it?" Kagami was the one who broke the silence, taking the plunge and treading on dangerous ground. He was always a bit more reckless than usual when he was keyed up like this.

Aomine let out a dark laugh, letting his head hang back so he could stare balefully at Kagami, "That damn Akashi, so high and mighty. Why does he always have to be friggin right though? He didn't tell me anything I didn't already know, but seriously, what the hell? Midorima's never beaten me before. That new trick of his is pretty cool, I'll give him that, but I keep losing when before no one could come close. I think I'm losing my touch."

Kagami's eyes were blown a little wide as he listened to Aomine vent, not expecting the other ace to just spill it all out like that, but then again, who else would he tell? His team that mostly thought he was a slacker? Or one of his many fans who tended to think he was a god of basketball? His only real options were a rival like Kagami or a true friend like Kuroko, and it just so happened to be Kagami that found him first.

"Woah, okay, slow down. First if you quit going to practice of course other people are going to get better than you. In case you forgot there were six players in the Kiseki no Sidai, not just you." Kagami reminded, "The way all of you Miracles play is amazing, seriously, every single one of you could get a spot in the NBA if you wanted one and in every game where Seirin's clashed with your teams you guys just get better. You were always going to have five guaranteed rivals at the very least, and now I'm not going anywhere either."

"I didn't stop practicing, not completely anyway," Aomine grumbled in protest while ignoring the rest. "I just stopped coming to school practice. I still run and stuff to keep myself in shape, and I go back to the street courts where I learned to play sometimes; it's not like I gave up the game entirely. I just couldn't stand to keep coming against teams and players who refused to fight, they lost those games before they ever touched a ball. It was ridiculous, and nothing I did made any difference. If anything, the more I tried, the worse it got. Why in the hell would I make myself stronger when no one was willing to play me as I am? That was true right up until Tetsu found you, and don't let the others tell you it was any different for them by the way. We all knew if Tetsu found a new Light the two of you would be our biggest threat, though no one really knew if he would be successful."

"What made you think he would come back around at all after what you guys pulled in that last championship?" Kagami wasn't afraid of confrontation, and that was doubly so if it involved his Shadow.

Aomine puffed up in anger, but still answered the question, even if he looked like he would rather swallow broken glass. Some confessions needed to be made, but that didn't mean he had to like it. "Tetsu is too good of a person just to give up on us. He struggled so hard to keep us from flying apart, he was our mediator and the most calming force in any fights. Akashi was cracking under the insane pressure he had on himself and the rest of us were running around like a bunch of half-cocked pistols. Tetsu stayed himself, all while the rest of us were falling apart thanks to our damn egos; even Midorima fell prey to that one though he doesn't like to admit it and it isn't quite as obvious with him. When Tetsu failed at keeping us together, I knew there was only one thing he would do, and that's find someone like you that could give us a wake-up call. I don't think you will ever have any idea how much me or the other guys needed that. You might think you do just looking at us from the outside, but until you feel what it is like to face an opponent that is totally and utterly afraid of you, only to turn around and meet someone like you who laughs in your face and meets you toe to toe, you won't have a clue."

"Yeah right there with you Aominecchi, first time I met Kagamicchi, he told me it was better if he couldn't win. I thought he was insane." The cheerful but quiet voice of Kise was a surprise, but thankfully since the typical hyperness was locked away thanks to the time of night, he was welcomed onto the steps with them without complaint, his voice continuing without pause. "Add that to finding out you came from America Kagamicchi and I was really worried about Kurokocchi! I'm not anymore, but I was then."

Kagami found himself irritated with Kise's overly cheerful chirrups, but it was too late at night to do more than angrily retort, "Oi, what's that supposed to mean?"

"Just that we didn't know anything about you, and if you were foreign even Momoicchi wouldn't be able to find out much more." Kise deflected with a shrug, used to having irritated companions by this point. It wasn't an uncommon thing for him to be around considering how much he enjoyed riling up the other Miracles and his Senpais.

Aomine butted in again, "That's why we all kind of felt the need to come get a good measure of you as soon as we found out you existed. Satsuki more or less forced me to after you beat this idiot and Midorima." He patently ignored Kise's indignant 'Hey!' at being called an idiot.

Kagami thought back to that first one-on-one against Aomine with a fire sparking in his veins, sparing a lazy glance at the pouting blonde, when he realized something, "You know something Aomine, the first time you and I played, I was actually on court arrest by coach. I wasn't supposed to be playing at all. Seirin had just played back to back games against Seiho and Shuutoku where I hurt my legs since I still wasn't really ready to handle my jumps yet and I hadn't fully healed. I wonder what would have happened if you had found me when I wasn't hurt?"

Aomine scoffed, "I still would have wiped the floor with you, and you know it." When it looked like the other ace was about to go off on a rant and Kise broke in with a scandalized, "Aominecchi!" He stopped to think about it a bit more. "I did wonder about that though, between that one-on-one and our first game you were a lot steadier. I'm not even counting the difference playing with Tetsu makes, I know what happens when it's his work changing a player's style; I watched him learn how to do it. I'm talking about specifically your own power getting a lot stronger. Then when we played in winter, you changed again; big time. More than in the summer." He analyzed.

"Taiga went back to America and learned with our teacher before playing in the Winter Cup," Himuro's voice was smooth and gentle, like a night breeze, but he might as well have shouted for how high his little brother jumped.

"Doesn't anyone sleep around here?" Kagami asked rhetorically, knowing his brother had a bad habit of staying up at night and sleeping during the day which made him horrific to deal with in the mornings.

Kise shrugged and responded to the inquiry anyway, "I'm used to not sleeping much, between school, work, and basketball I really only get a few hours here and there. More if class is boring." He admitted with a sheepish wince.

Aomine waved off the comment, "I don't like sleeping around people I don't know. Figure I'll sneak off tomorrow for a few hours unless Akashi or Satsuki catches me."

"You sound like me," Himuro observed with a chuckle, before looking at the two younger Miracles in concern, "I know better than to ask Taiga since he always gets too worked up to sleep before a big day of playing, and I've been this way for so long now I'm used to it, but you two aren't worried how you'll play tomorrow without sleep?"

He was not expecting Kise and Aomine to quickly meet each other's eyes before abruptly bursting into laughter they had to quickly work to control before they woke anyone else up. It was Kise that explained, "Camps were much harsher than this in Teiko, the first twenty-four hours at every one would be a nearly continuous combination of stamina and strength training for the first string players. We wouldn't be allowed to sleep until the second night, and would only stop for water and food breaks."

"How did you not die!?" Kagami exclaimed in a mirror of his brother's feelings, both surprised clear to the core at the very thought of such grueling training.

"Where did you think our skill came from?" Aomine challenged with crossed arms, "Yeah some things came naturally, but without the training to back it up we wouldn't be half the players we are now. Also Teiko was famous for their sports teams long before us, we were just the guinea pigs they needed to show off their methods the way the administrators dreamed they could. We had the talent to keep up with their idea of the perfect training regimen so they pushed us into it full throttle. Even Akashi hurled a couple times it was so intense, those camps really sucked."

Kise stretched out, long and lean like a cat, "There were times it hurt so bad I thought I really would die, and poor Kurokocchi; he was always passing out or throwing up, but we couldn't get him to stop. He'd just rest long enough to stop seeing spots and be right back up with us again. Akashicchi did what he could for us, he at least made sure we were never asked to do something he wasn't willing to do right along with us. He knew what kind of pain we were in because he was in it too."

"No wonder we can never get Tsuya to tell us when he needs a break," Kagami realized. "If that's what kind of training you guys lived with, your new teams must feel like paradise."

"If that's what Atsushi was asked to do I'm no longer shocked at how far he pushes himself when he says he hates practice, to him, he IS going light." Himuro was having the same epiphany as Kagami about his team's own Kiseki member.

"I made the mistake of looking down on my Senpais when I first went to Kaijo," Kise admitted sadly, his normally bright aura darkening. "In Teiko all the strings were treated very differently, first string players were the top dogs, but we were also driven to the brink of death with the high caliber training. At Kaijo, the whole team practiced together, and the amount of work they put in for the day amounted to our warm-ups essentially. It took me awhile to take it seriously. I was arrogant and wrong in a lot of ways, I know and I'm working on it, but that first introduction I didn't take practice seriously because I honestly didn't think anyone else was. I couldn't understand how it was supposed to work, but it does, it's so much better this way. It doesn't hurt when I play as much anymore, even using Perfect Copy, and I'm faster too."

Listening to Kise talk, and comparing it from what he'd learned over the years working so closely with Alex, Himuro realized what the problem with Teiko's overzealousness actually was. "Your body is stronger if it has a chance to heal between workouts. Sounds to me like Teiko didn't let you have that time at all, especially you Kise since from what I heard your talent has rapidly evolved ever since you started playing. That kind of sharp increase is probably exactly why you were hurting all the time. Your muscles would have been constantly strained and torn without proper healing the way Teiko was doing things. I'm glad you have those growing pains under control at Kaijo, no one wants to see you in pain and it's better to play all out in this gang." He encouraged with a small smile on his passive face.

"Yes! This is so much better, you have no idea." Kise gushed, and for once no one blamed him.

Kagami was curious about something else though, "If they were such harsh task masters during camps, why'd they let you stop coming to practice?"

Aomine's gruff drawl answered him, "I already told you." He rebuffed. "Just because the first string didn't come practice with everyone else did not mean we weren't expected to stay in shape. We had to keep in top form on our own time. By that point we had been indoctrinated enough it didn't matter how we stayed in condition as long as we kept winning, and it must have worked because we never lost a game."

"Teiko never got in trouble for doing something so extreme to children?" Himuro had to ask, he couldn't help it because that was seriously far beyond anything he encountered, especially when remembering they were discussing middle school students.

"No, remember, we volunteered to be on the team." Kise reminded. "That was how they stayed out of trouble, any time concerns were brought up about the intensity of our practices the head-coach just reminded whoever was asking that any one of us could back out whenever we chose to. They weren't forcing, coercing, or paying us to stick it out; which cleared them of most liability issues as long as we had parental permission to continue; which we did."

"That's how much the game meant to you?" Himuro realized the sheer amount of determination it had to have taken to get through the trials Teiko had thrown at them, all of those boys had to have something driving them or they would have dropped out long ago.

"Yes," Kise responded with a broad smile. "We all have a different reason for playing, but we really do love it from the bottom of our hearts no matter how much Murasakibaracchi says he doesn't. It was Kurokocchi who reminded us of that."

"Tsuya is good at knocking some sense into people," Kagami agreed.

Himuro couldn't help himself from teasing his brother when he gave him such a good opening, "How's that working out for you? Seems like a lot to ask of him."

With a furious blush and playful tackle the brothers were off the steps and grappling in the grass off to the side. It had been a while since they had an impromptu wrestling match, though they used to indulge in them often back in LA.

Kise and Aomine watched the pair of them in shock, Aomine doing his best to look disinterested while Kise didn't even bother to hide his staring. They weren't trying to hurt each other, so no one was throwing any dangerous hits that would draw blood or compromise playing the next day, but it was obvious both brothers were strong and familiar with the other's style enough they could do so if they wanted to.

The match ended with Himuro's knee in the small of Kagami's back, his arm around the red-head's throat, pulling back until his little brother was forced to tap out so he could breathe.

Since Aomine already had an inkling the brothers were capable of such a thing from the confrontation Kagami had with him after finding out he had punched Haizaki, it was Kise who commented first, "Whoa, where did that come from?" He asked looking at the elder brunette in awe.

Seeing his brother too embarrassed to answer, Kagami did it for him. "A pretty boy growing up on the streets of LA needs to know how to fight. It's practically a given that if you spend much time outside you're going to be roughed up at some point no matter who you are, but it is worse if you happen to look like an easy target."

"You told me you knew how to fight, never said he was better," Aomine commented coolly, wondering what the reaction would be.

Here Himuro had to speak up, "That isn't always true," He refuted. "Taiga is stronger than me, I've just had a lot of practice taking people down who are larger. Also this was a fight where we really were just playing around, it would have been different if there was any strength in his hits. We both held back quite a bit."

Kise looked a bit hesitant before coming out and asking, "Could you teach me some of that?"

"You learn so fast I don't see why we couldn't, but why do you want to learn?" Himuro asked curiously.

"Did Kagamicchi ever tell you about the night a couple of us had to crash at his place?" Kise responded with a question, getting a shake to the negative from Himuro. "Well, long story short, we were waiting for news about Kurokocchi and Kagamicchi's Senpai and it was so late by the time we got the all clear that Akashicchi had to ask if I could stay instead of walking alone after dark. The others staying was just an add on. It was a fun time, so I can't really regret it, but I don't like being a burden on people and would feel a lot better about taking care of myself if I could do some of what you can." He explained, having realized that Himuro was essentially in the same boat as him, both too pretty for their own good. The difference being Himuro had done something about it.

"Didn't you say you already could take care of yourself, as long as you can see what's coming anyway?" Kagami didn't mean to say they wouldn't help Kise, he was just trying to understand the discrepancy.

"Normally yes," Kise didn't argue, "But all I can really do is punch my way out and run, I have nothing to back it up if someone is truly trying to hurt me. I wouldn't be able to fight them off if they knocked me down the way you two were just fighting." He elaborated.

"We'll show you what we can here at the camp then, and when it's over keep coming to Seirin and I'll show you more if you want." Kagami offered, realizing how serious this could end up being for the blonde model. The obsessions that could form around famous people weren't something to fool around with, and it seemed like Kise was only getting more popular as he matured.

"Thank you Kagamicchi, Himurocchi!" Kise grinned brightly in appreciation, making the brothers smile and Aomine roll his eyes at the display, but even the wild Touou Ace was glad to see him be a bit more proactive in his own protection. There was only so much other people could do and they didn't have Murasakibara to yank them out of trouble like they had at Teiko.

This was going to be an interesting adventure.


End file.
